“There’s C4 in this tin if you pull the pin it will explode"

A man approached people near a town centre and told them he had a bomb. Leon Daines walked up to random passers-by with a device in his hand before telling them it would blow up, a court heard.

Daines, 39, was arrested following the incident in the Talbot Crescent area, in Hasland on September 11 last year.

Armed police were scrambled to the incident, and found Daines with a water pistol squirting it at passing vehicles.

One witness said Daines told him: “There’s C4 in this tin if you pull the pin it will explode.”

The 39-year-old, of no fixed abode, was charged with causing a bomb hoax by communicating false information.

He admitted the offence and was jailed for four months at Chesterfield Magistrates’ Court on January 20.

After sentencing, Sergeant Josh Carter, of Chesterfield Safter Neighbourhood Team, said: “This incident obviously caused alarm in the community and took up a significant amount of police resources, including deploying armed officers.

“Let this be a lesson to anyone thinking about committing acts such as this that tie-up police time – we will not tolerate it and you could find yourself behind bars.”