Cornwall school and NHS bomb hoax man jailed

Rodney Peasley from Cornwall was jailed for bomb hoax calls and criminal damage

A man who carried out a series of bomb hoaxes against a school and NHS centre and slashed a Covid-19 vaccination marquee has been jailed.

Rodney Peasley, 66, of Radnor Road, Scorrier in Cornwall, told a school there were "multiple devices that would detonate randomly".

He admitted three counts of making bomb hoaxes and four counts of causing criminal damage, Truro Crown Court heard.

He was jailed for a total of 21 months.

Rodney Peasley was convicted for criminal damage to a vaccination marquee at Mount Hawke Surgery in Cornwall

Two of the three bomb hoaxes, all made on 19 November last year, were made in phone calls to Richard Lander School in Truro.

One was against the Kernow Health NHS centre which was administering vaccinations for the school's pupils.

The bomb hoaxes led to the secondary school being evacuated and a major incident being declared by police and the NHS, the court was told.

Peasley pleaded guilty to damaging a vaccination centre in the village of Mount Hawke between 26 October and 17 November.

The damage to the vaccination centre, including the slashing of a marquee, was estimated to have cost £16,000 to repair.

Staff at Mount Hawke Surgery found the marquee painted with graffiti

The court heard that Peasley was "not an anti-vaxxer per se", but was "against mass vaccination of young people".

He had apologised to the school a few days after the calls and was "genuinely" concerned about the "safety of the young people".

The judge, Mr Justice Garnham, asked: "Then how on earth did he threaten to bomb their school?"

Sentencing Peasley, he said the "pernicious" bomb hoaxes were "all the more serious because they involved children and those in the provision of health care".

He accepted that Peasley, who had no previous convictions, realised "how foolish and damaging his actions had been".

He was jailed for 20 months for the bomb hoaxes and one month consecutively for the criminal damage offences.