A PERSON who called a restaurant claiming there was a bomb inside makes up more than a dozen hoax bomb threats recorded in Cumbria.

Cumbria Police have dealt with nearly 20 fake bomb threats in the last ten years.

Barrow is the area in the country with the most cases, with six coming in the last three years alone.

Police released details of the incidents following a freedom of information request.

Among the shocking incidents recorded were: 

  • One caller who said there was a bomb onboard a boat
  • A hoaxer who sent an email to public authority in another area saying they had bought fireworks and a bomb
  • A victim of a hoax being called and bomb was about to go off
  • And a caller to police saying there was a bomb inside a rucksack

In total 18 bomb hoaxes have been recorded in Cumbria since 2013.

Eight cases have been logged in Barrow.

Some six incidents were logged in Carlisle, while Penrith and Whitehaven also had cases.

In most cases police were unable to bring charges.

In five of the cases, the investigation was closed with no suspect identified.

Other cases were dealt with using a community resolution and youths were issued cautions on two occasions.

Police also deemed it not in the public interest to charge in three cases.

Last year man responsible for a bomb hoax at Barrow's shipyard that led to thousands of staff being evacuated from the site was jailed for nearly two years.

Royal Navy engineer Michael Turnbull made a phone call to the site alleging there was a bomb onboard one of the Astute submarines.

A total of 1,700 staff were sent home after fears a bomb had been planted inside Devonshire Dock Hall.

BAE bosses later revealed that, after a thorough search of four boats, they believed the scare to be a hoax.

Appearing at Preston Crown Court, Turnbull was sentenced to a total of 21 months behind bars.

The 33-year-old previously pleaded guilty to two counts of communicating information 'you knew or believed to be false with the intention of inducing in that person or any other person a false belief that a bomb was present in a submarine'.

The incident happened on April 10 2019.