Man jailed for bomb threats that shut down Orkney airport

Ross Buchan repeatedly phoned in bomb threats to the airport

A man who forced the closure of Orkney's Kirkwall Airport after telling a staff member "airplane goes boom" has been jailed for four years.

Ross Buchan, 21, admitted making repeated phonecalls, saying he had a friend on an incoming flight to the islands who could "get control" and crash the plane.

The incident on 4 January caused the closure of the airport for about three hours.

Buchan, from Dundee, who has previous convictions for assault and robbery, also admitted two separate charges of indecent communications to a 15-year-old boy and threatening and abusive behaviour.

Sheriff George Way said threats to airlines were "incredibly serious and can't be taken lightly".

He added: "Mr Buchan understands how serious it is in these difficult and fraught times to say there is a bomb on a plane."

Dundee Sheriff Court was told all luggage on the Loganair flight from Glasgow was re-scanned as a result of the incident.

Depute fiscal Joanne Ritchie said a staff member at the airport received a number of calls from a withheld number at about 09:00 on 4 January but could not hear anyone on the line and hung up.

She received a subsequent call from a "young, Scottish monotone" voice, who said: "Boom. Airplane goes boom."

The woman continued her conversation with the caller, who said the plane was a 737.

When it was pointed out that size of plane did not operate at Kirkwall Airport, the caller replied: "You soon will, it's not going to be pretty."

Kirkwall Airport is the main airport on the Orkney islands

The man called back naming the number of a flight from Glasgow to Kirkwall, saying it was going to crash into the airport.

The caller then stated he had a friend on the flight "to get control of the plane and can push a button".

He repeatedly called back and on another occasion said: "Up the Kremlin, for the motherland."

On the final occasion, the man called in again but when he was told the aircraft had landed safely, he hung up.

The court heard that airport security concluded that the calls were "not a credible threat" but the airport dismissed the advice and contacted the authorities.

The airport was subsequently closed for more than three hours and the luggage on the flight was re-scanned.

The calls were later traced by police to Buchan's phone and he was arrested.

Anika Jethwa, defending, said her client had taken a "huge amount of alcohol and drugs" at the time of the offence.

She said: "It was not a carefully pre-planned operation, it was the opposite of that."

Buchan, who appeared at Dundee Sheriff Court via videolink, was sentenced for two years for the bomb threats and two years for the other charges.

He will also be supervised in the community for a further two years following his release from jail.