A NEW employee who sparked a major alert when he rang a journalist claiming a bomb was due to go off at a Deeside papermill - so he could avoid his night shift - has been jailed.

The hoax caused an emergency shut down of the UPM plant on Deeside Industrial Estate and the whole site was evacuated.

Terry Bell, 29, of High Street, Connah’s Quay, said to have learning difficulties and other issues, later told police that he thought “it would be a bit of a laugh”.

Initially it was estimated the loss of production and other costs amounted to £100,000 but Mold Crown Court was told the losses had been analysed and it had been reduced to some £70,000.

Judge Timothy Petts said he was not surprised any loss of production could easily get to tens of thousands of pounds but the precise loss would not affect the sentence.

There had to be a deterrent sentence and despite Bell's difficulties he had decided that it had to be an immediate sentence of 10 months.

“Those who cause significant disruption to individuals or organisation must expect custody because of the impact such offences have on the public,” he said.

The court heard the hoax had caused fear and distress to workers and one manager told how his family, who had been caught up in the Manchester bombings, had been greatly upset.

Barrister Jo Maxwell.prosecuting, said at 2.30pm on September 29 a phone call was received from a man who asked a member of staff: “Do you have a pen? At 9pm there is going to be an explosion at the KPM Paper Mill in North Wales.”

Asked how he knew, he replied: “I am the one who put it there. Tell the police.”

There was a second call a short time later when he said: “Have you got the message?”

Asked for his name, he said that was irrelevant and hung up.

Police were informed and Bell was arrested three hours later driving in Connah’s Quay High Street. His home and car were searched for anything relating to explosives but it proved negative.

It turned out he was a new employee and had worked two shifts but did not want to do a third.

When told of the threat by the police the company management, based in America, decided there should be a complete shutdown of the plant and all employees were evacuated from the 90 acre site under a crisis management procedure.

It began at 6.30pm and while the company was informed that a man had been arrested and the threat was regarded as a hoax, it was felt prudent to wait and it was not until 9.30pm that the site was declared safe for the employees to return.

It was not until between 11pm and midnight that production was able to begin again.

Loss of sales revenue was estimated at £46,000 with other losses of £25,000.

Bell, who was traced through his mobile phone number, said it was a stupid mistake” which he regretted.

He said he thought it would be a “bit of a laugh” and said he was unhappy in his job.

The prosecutor said: “He was due to start a shift at 7pm that night and wanted to get out of it.”

Defence barrister Mark Connor urged a suspended sentence in what he said was an exceptional case.

Bell, he said, was a man with learning difficulties who had a limited ability to read and write, he suffered from attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and autism and that impacted on his ability to interact socially.

Bell, who had other health issues, had moved from the West Midlands to Deeside where he lived with his fiancée and they were due to get married next year.

He had stopped taking his medication which affected his ability to make decisions and getting a job at the paper mill, to help pay for the wedding, was a “huge achievement” for him.

It was his first job, he had completed two shifts but the thought of returning for a further 12 hour night shift became too much for him.

“He did what he thought would get him out of going to work without thinking of the consequences of what that might be."

Mr Connor said he should have resigned, phoned in sick or tell the company he was not up to it but he lacked consequential thinking skills and rational judgement.

He had no pro-criminal attitudes and his culpability was clearly less than a person functioning at a normal level.

Bell was a low risk of re-offending and was remorseful, said Mr Connor.

Judge Petts said: “Your action caused very significant disruption, an evacuation and shutdown for several hours.

"It took time to get back to normal,” he said