A MAN who exacted revenge on takeaway staff by making several hoax bomb phone calls has been jailed.

Shamsul Islam was sentenced to prison terms of three-and-a-half years for the two 999 calls to police and one to the Crimestoppers line, and six months for perverting the course of justice.

York Crown Court was told the 23-year-old had falsely claimed Islamic fundamentalists linked to the July 7 London bombings were using Paragon Pizza in Knaresborough High Street to build a bomb.

Part of the town centre was evacuated, a large area locked down and police ordered others to stay indoors, including children at a school, as the takeaway was raided by armed officers, before it was established the terrorist alert was bogus.

The court heard Islam, who is serving an eight-year prison sentence for drug offences, claim he had not made the calls, which police linked to phones found in his car.

He also denied the calls had been made in an act of revenge on takeaway staff.

His brother, Habibul, 22, was given suspended six-month jail terms for perverting the course of justice and for fraud, and was also ordered to carry out 180 hours' unpaid work.

Judge Stephen Ashurst said the steps taken by North Yorkshire Police to protect the public were impressive.

Detective Superintendent Dai Malyn said: “These bomb threats, which as it transpired were hoaxes, required a rapid and dynamic deployment of a large number of local and specialist police resources to deal with what was, based on the information available at that time, a credible threat and danger to the public.

“At times of national and international security concerns, I hope those responsible reflect on the seriousness of their actions and their prosecution acts as a deterrent to others who contemplate making similar hoax calls.”