Chef who made hoax bomb calls given suspended sentence

A former Bewleys Hotel chef who made hoax calls stating there were bombs in the hotel carpark and kitchen has been given a suspended sentence by Judge Frank O’Donnell at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court.

David Lamb (aged 33) had been sacked from his job at Bewleys at Dublin Airport a few days before the incident and told gardai that he made the hoax calls because he had a grudge against the hotel, adding: "I think they should have been a little more fair to me."

Garda Sinead Greene told prosecuting counsel, Mr Michael Bowman BL, that Lamb lost his job because he had taken days off to spend time with his terminally ill father after the hotel had refused to give him the time off. His father died in the month following the incident.

Garda Greene said she and several Garda colleagues were called to the hotel on November 7, 2006 by reception staff concerned about a bomb scare in the carpark.

Lamb, of Tongalee Road, Raheny, pleaded guilty to knowingly making a false report. He had previously received a suspended sentence for making similar calls and committed this offence during the suspended term.

Judge O’Donnell imposed a three-year sentence which he suspended for five years and ordered that €1,000 paid over by Lamb be given to the The Society of St Vincent de Paul.

He also ordered that Lamb attend all meetings and therapy prescribed by The Probation Services during the suspended period of the sentence. He said he felt with this assistance Lamb’s offending may be at an end.

He noted at a previous hearing that a probation report before the court stated that Lamb had not shown genuine remorse or victim empathy in relation to his crimes. He added that he had not taken the chance he had been given with the previous suspended sentences.

Judge O’Donnell accepted that a report stated that Lamb had a "low average range of intelligence" but said that he had no sympathy for Lamb because his crime had demonstrated that he had "a genuine understanding of how to seek revenge and hurt others".

He previously adjourned sentencing and told the accused that he was to have €1,000 in court for the next date.