Bristol bomb alert: Man appears in court on hoax charge

A TEENAGER has appeared in court accused of deliberately causing a bomb alert that led to the evacuation of Cabot Circus shopping centre.

Daniel Davies, 19, of Crow Lane, Henbury, spoke only to confirm his name and address when he was produced in front of District Judge David Parsons at Bristol Magistrates’ Court this afternoon.

Prosecuting, Kelly Marshall said Davies is alleged to have got off a bus on the Gloucester Road, gone to the job centre, before browsing the shops at Cabot Circus on August 21.

At about 2pm, he is alleged to have left a briefcase near the Next store in Hollister Street, which was reported to police as suspicious.

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The entire shopping centre was evacuated for several hours, as were many shops in Quaker’s Friars and Broadmead.

A handful of roads were closed as the bomb disposal unit carried out a controlled explosion on the briefcase, which was found to contain no explosives.

Davies was arrested and charged with the bomb hoax.

He entered no plea to the charge today and was remanded in custody.

District Judge Parsons deemed the case “too serious” to be heard at the magistrates’ court – where the maximum prison sentence that can be imposed is six months – and the case was sent to the crown court.

Davies will next appear on September 20.

The city was brought to a standstill by the bomb scare, which led to road closures and the evacuation of thousands of shoppers and workers.

When the police cordon was lifted, there were several hours of delays and traffic jams on major routes in and out of the city, including the M32, Fishponds Road, Easton Way, St Philip's Causeway and Coronation Road.