Suspended prison term for hoax calls

A NEWSTOWNSTEWART man has been handed a suspended prison term after he made a series of crank 999 calls, one of which, he claimed, was due to information received from the FBI.

William James Harkin (62) of Drumlegagh Road South affirmed that he would not commit the same offences, when he appeared at Strabane Magistrates Court on Thursday.

Deputy District Judge Sean O’Hare told the Newtown man, “It’s clear to me that you have difficulties.”

The court heard that on the first occasion that Harkin rang 999 he said there was a bomb under a car in Newtownstewart. Believed to be a hoax, police were tasked to speak to the defendant who was found in an intoxicated condition. At first the Newtown man refused to say how or why he knew there to be a bomb under a car, then he started talking about the Omagh bomb.

Later he said he knew of the Newtown bomb because the FBI had told him.

On a following occasion (October 9 2021), Harkin again rang 999 four further times. In the first three of these calls he claimed to be in the IRA and again claimed there were bombs in Newtownstewart.

Again when police called, Harkin was found to be in a heavily intoxicated condition and again he was warned about making hoax calls.

He was subsequently arrested and cautioned.

“The defendant comes before the court with a relevant record…” Judge O’Hare noted. “It has some very serious offending in it.”

The judge noted instances of previous offending including indecent behaviour and simple drunk.

“The difference here is, this was a protracted period of time… you were warned by police,” he said.

“I am concerned that there was something going on in October 2021 and that was making you behave like this… It happened four times after you were told not to.”

He added, “It seems to me that you need to get some help.”

Harkin was then handed two months in prison suspended for two years.