Anvil bomb hoaxer jailed for 14 years

Robert Boyd-Stevenson, 27, was sentenced at Winchester Crown Court on Friday for eight offences including three arsons, two of which were regarded as reckless as to whether life would be endangered.

The former Anvil employee was also sentenced for perverting the course of justice on three occasions, attempting to plant a "fake bomb" in the venue last year and the theft of a mobile phone.

As a result of the bomb hoax, roads into Basingstoke town centre were closed and most of Castle Square, in Old Basing Mall, was sealed off while a bomb disposal team exploded the device, which police had said consisted of a carrier bag with wires strapped to it.

Before delivering the sentence, Judge Andrew Barnett told Boyd-Stevenson, of Warbleton Road, Chineham, that a term of life was "a close-run thing".

Earlier, Nigel Seed QC, prosecuting, told the court that two of the arsons were at homes in Edgehill Close, off Buckskin Lane, in Basingstoke. Boyd-Stevenson was living in Edgehill Close at the time.

One of the fires, in March 2002, was started when the occupants were upstairs in bed.

Mr Seed said: "Had the fire taken hold, the lives of the occupants would have been at risk."

The second arson was at an unoccupied property in the road in May 2002 and a third, in Bournemouth in August 2003, was at the home of colleague Emma Christmas. Two of her three cats died in the fire.

Mr Seed said: "It is clear that Boyd-Stevenson wanted to be her boyfriend. He made a pass at her and was rebuffed by her."

Mr Seed said Boyd-Stevenson (pictured) had been asked to resign from his job at The Anvil on October 7, 2003 - the same day that the hoax device was found.

The court was told that Boyd-Stevenson had later gone back to The Anvil, to see what reaction had been caused.

The first of three charges of perverting the course of justice came about when, in November 2002, Boyd-Stevenson told police he had been threatened with arson, but he had actually poured lighter fluid on his own floor.

The second charge was made after the fire in Bournemouth. Boyd-Stevenson called the fire brigade to report the incident and used the name of someone he worked with. The police rang the number back, and he told them they had the wrong number, giving a different false name.

The third charge related to a forged letter he sent to the court after missing an appearance.

Police also found him to be in possession of a mobile phone, which was stolen in March 2002.

Thomas Teague QC, defending, said Boyd-Stevenson's problems appeared to have started in his early teens after his father moved the family to this part of the country in 1991, and that his father had left the home by the end of that year.

However, Mr Teague added that Boyd-Stevenson - who had pleaded guilty to the charges - now had a good relationship with a girlfriend and with his father.

Mr Teague said: "He is clearly not mentally ill and does not suffer from a personality disorder but, as a teenager and a young man, he has had psychological problems.

"He has never, in fact, received the help that he has needed."

Mr Teague said that Boyd-Stevenson's stepfather became seriously ill and died in September 2003, adding: "We know that had a profound effect and he was diagnosed as having reactive depression.

"The only reason the defendant has been able to offer for these offences is that, in some way, he has been trying to draw attention to himself.

"There is no reason why he should not be, at the end of his sentence, a more balanced and mature individual."

Sentencing the defendant, Judge Barnett said: "You have pleaded guilty to a catalogue of, in the main, extremely serious offences."

He added that a psychiatric report concluded Boyd-Stevenson did not suffer from any psychological disease, and that he had thought "long and hard" about a sentence of life imprisonment.

Judge Barnett told him: "In my view, you are very much a potential danger to the public.

"You are very likely, in the immediate future, to commit further offences.

"That is why I would be failing in my duty if I do not impose a substantial term of imprisonment.

"I do not consider that a sentence of life is justified but it is a very close-run thing.

"Society must be protected from you and your criminal acts. Therefore, the total sentence upon you is one of 14 years in prison. The time spent on remand is taken into account."

The sentences comprised:

one month in prison for stealing a mobile phone, 12 months for perverting the course of justice in 2002 and 15 months for perverting the course of justice in 2003, all to run concurrently

four years for arson at an unoccupied property in Edgehill Close, Basingstoke, in 2002

five years and eight years respectively for the 2002 and 2003 offences of arson, being reckless as to whether life would be endangered, to run concurrently with each other but consecutively to the first three offences

12 months each for attempting to plant a fake bomb at The Anvil and for sending a fake letter to the court - both to run concurrently, but consecutively to the previous sentences.

Speaking after the case, Det Con Neil Cussen, of Basingstoke police, said: "The judge recognised the serious threat that this man posed to the public, so we welcome the sentence on that level.

"Much police time was spent investigating the actions of this individual."

Matthew Cleaver, The Anvil's marketing director, said: "We want to praise the work of the police in what was obviously a complicated investigation."