Bail hostel bomb scare (From York Press)

Bail hostel bomb scare

10:14am Monday 3rd September 2007

• Print
• Email
• Share

A BOMB scare at a controversial probation hostel caused chaos in York.

The hoax at Southview Hostel, in Boroughbridge Road, brought traffic to a standstill and led to the road being closed for more than three hours.

Police evacuated the building at about 2.40pm yesterday, after a hoaxer telephoned the hostel and claimed there was a bomb inside.

The bomb scare comes only two weeks after a dangerous child sex offender Joseph Taylor absconded after serving three-and-a-half years of a five-year jail sentence.

It was discovered he had gone on the run after failing to return by an 11pm curfew, but later handed himself in.

Three police vans, two cars, a paramedic and a fire engine all attended the scene yesterday afternoon. Officers spent several hours searching the building with sniffer dogs, but they did not find anything suspicious.

Sergeant Dave Hopper, of North Yorkshire Police, said: "At approximately 14.40 police attended an address in Boroughbridge Road in York.

"As a precaution the premises were evacuated. Boroughbridge Road was closed between Water End and Carr Lane."

The bomb scare caused traffic chaos as hundreds of cars were diverted away from Boroughbridge Road towards Leeman Road.

The area was sealed-off for more than three hours and eventually reopened at about 6.10pm.

Some local residents were unable to return home for more than three hours, because they lived between the two police cordons at Water End and Carr Lane.

Others were forced to walk down Lindsey Avenue and back down Carr Lane in order to get home.

David Jackson, 55, who lives nearby, said: "It's just one thing after another with that bail hostel. It's a disgrace.

"It shouldn't have been put in a residential area like this in the first place.

"People don't feel safe round here anymore."

Shirley James, 46, who lives in nearby Wooldlea Avenue, said: "I only popped out to the shops and now I'm going to have to walk a long way to get home.

"It's about time they got rid of that place.

"It would be a blessing for everyone who lives round here."

Another eye-witness, who was told he could not return to his home by police, said: "I can speak for all the residents of Lavender Grove when I say we are thoroughly sick of this hostel being here.

"I've got a little boy and none of us can let our children play out in the streets anymore. This is just the latest in a long line of hassles, including that pervert who went on the run a few weeks back.

"It's crazy to house those sorts of people near a school and people just want them gone from our streets and from near our homes and our children."

Another local resident said: "When we heard there was a bomb scare there we said to each other I bet it's the bail hostel'. What a surprise when we found out it was. Why should we have to put up with this. It is not fair."

Building is no stranger to controversy

SOUTHVIEW hostel has long been at the centre of controversy.

Residents were furious when The Press revealed convicted paedophiles and murderers could be living there after a Government ruling changed it from a bail hostel into an "all-purpose" hostel, whose residents could be serving sentences for crimes such as child sex offences, rape or murder.

Southview, which is close to Poppleton Road Primary School, had previously only housed people awaiting trial or sentence.

Local residents were not told of the change when it was made in January 2002.

Protesters had previously raised a 4,400-name petition against plans to create the bail hostel in 1993.

Residents claimed they were assured then that Southview would not house people convicted of serious offences.

In 2004, Lynne Bell was stabbed by her fiancé Kenneth Milroy while he was under a curfew at the probation hostel.

He had been sent there after serving nine years of a life sentence for murdering his wife, but then travelled to Gateshead and stabbed his new partner as she sunbathed in her garden.

Convicted robber Robert Ord, 33, was staying at the hostel when he burst into a stranger's home and shouted death threats and demanded money earlier this year.

• Print
• Email
• Share