A FORMER police officer has returned to prison after he made a phone call claiming to be a member of ISIS and said he was about to bomb a homeless shelter in York.

Alan Glasby, 68, was jailed in January last year for 40 months after causing a fire at a York hotel but released on licence at the end of March.

He recently told The Press how he was so grateful to the Arclight Centre for helping him get back on his feet after prison and planned to turn his life around.

York Magistrates’ Court heard Glasby had been ejected from the Arclight after becoming involved in an altercation, and phoned 999 on Thursday telling North Yorkshire Police “the Arclight is going to be blown up soon”.

Prosecutor Victoria Barker said Glasby “told the operator that he was at the other side of the country and that he would detonate the bomb”, but was in the middle of York at the time, drunk and wandering the streets. After making the call, Glasby - who became an alcoholic following the death of his son - phoned The Press and told reporter Dan Bean he was considering suicide.

Ms Barker said: “He said he felt suicidal. Mr Bean contacted police with the information.”

The reporter and police officers found Glasby in Micklegate within an hour, and police seized the mobile from which the calls had been made. Glasby was arrested and admitted making the calls during questioning.

Andrew Craven, for Glasby, said his client had led a “perfectly respectable and law-abiding life” until recently.

Mr Craven said: “The difficulties seem to have come when he retired and he has had time to reflect and brood, and that grief has come to the fore and it’s manifested itself in him drinking and brooding.

“Whenever he has come before the courts it has always been following a bout of intense drinking. He was barred from the Arclight and then makes this silly phone call to the police.”

Mr Craven said Glasby was “a gentleman who strikes as a somewhat tragic figure”, and nobody was hurt or evacuated from the shelter following the hoax call, adding “the only inconvenience was to Mr Bean and the police force”.

Mr Craven said: “When he comes out he’s got to start all over again.

“He’s got to go back to the Arclight, he’s got nowhere to live and he’s going to have to start from the beginning.”

Magistrates sentenced Glasby to a further eight weeks in prison, which will run concurrently with his existing 18-month jail term. He was also ordered to pay a £115 victim surcharge.

Glasby admitted the hoax call, and has been recalled to prison where he will serve at least half of his 18-month licence period in custody.