[Denver]

A LAD who couldn't be bothered to go into work paid his mate to pose as a member of IS and call 999 to report a hoax bomb threat at his company.

A court in Dublin heard how Aaron O'Neill, 20, had been out boozing and taking tablets the night before with pal Colin Hammond, 21, when he decided he didn't fancy going into the office the next day.

O'Neill, a former sub-contractor for Intel, paid his friend to call 999 from a payphone outside Hammond's home.

Hammond told the operator he was a member of "Islamic State" and warned there were bombs located at the Intel offices in Leixlip set to go off in 12 hours.

He told emergency services: "You will not find them.

"This is a warning, we’re everywhere now."

The call sparked mass panic in the area as the M4 motorway was shut down, air traffic control was severely disrupted and 4,000 Intel employees were prevented from going into work, losing the company around 6,000 hours of productivity.

Hammond told police: "He hates work and I made him a phone call so he wouldn't have to go to work."

Both men from Balbriggan, neither of which had any previous convictions, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to making a false report on the Bath Road on January 13th 2015.

Judge Martin Nolan described Hammond as "profoundly stupid" for agreeing to make the call and described the incident as "a very, very strange way to avoid going to work".

He ordered Hammond to carry out 200 hours of community service, with O'Neill likely to be awarded a similar punishment at his hearing in January, once a report from the Probation Service on his suitability has been filed.

O'Neill said there had been no set plan but admitted they decided 6am was a suitable time to make the call and told the police he was sorry, adding he didn't think it was going to be a big deal.
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage...mb-threat.html