A MAN who made a hoax bomb call to police to warn about an explosion at a York visitor attraction has been fined by a York court.

Robert Dudley Atkins, of Hanover Street West, phoned the North Yorkshire Police emergency number at 6.50pm on February 6, and told the control room a bomb would be detonated at Jorvik Viking Centre, in Coppergate, in the next 100 minutes.

Atkins, 41, pleaded guilty to making the phone call when he appeared before York Magistrates’ Court. Officers were sent to the museum and discovered the alert was a hoax.

An investigation quickly traced the mobile phone number from which the call was made to a woman called Andrea Cropper. She told police she had been at her home with Atkins that day, and had found him holding her phone at one point.

Police contacted Atkins, and asked him to come in for an interview with officers on February 25, where he was played a recording of the 999 call, and made no comment.

Lee-Anne Robins-Hicks, for Atkins, said at the time of the offence he was “experiencing significant deterioration of his mental health”, and had been “struggling with an undiagnosed condition of schizophrenia”. He also had a longstanding diagnosis of depression, the court heard.

Miss Robins-Hicks said: “At that time, things were difficult for him and he was seeking solace from difficulties, in particular, he was hearing voices, by using and misusing alcohol.”

She said Atkins had since spent some time in professional care, which had had a positive impact on his mental health, and “he now feels better, and hopes to put this matter behind him”.

Atkins was fined £60, ordered to pay prosecution costs of £85, and a victim surcharge of £20.