Bomber threat driver given restraining order

3 April 2019, 17:13 | Updated: 3 April 2019, 17:15

A man who bombarded a media company with threatening phone calls has been handed a restraining order.

Elliot Spencer, 25, first called Clear Channel Media in October last year claiming he had been ‘cut up’ by one of their van drivers on the A1 near Peterborough.

Spencer said he would, “get out and cut them up with a machete’, if it happened again.

Over the next four months, Spencer went on to make about 30 calls to Clear Channel Media to report similar complaints and threaten members of staff.

The threats varied from claims he would stab the van drivers to saying he would come to the company’s Dartford branch and ‘slice everyone up’.

In one call, Spencer claimed he would go to the branch and blow the building up.

In an attempt to hide his identity, Spencer gave false names and used unregistered pay-as-you-go sim cards when making the calls.

Officers managed to track the phone data across three counties, which led to his arrest in Lincolnshire.

On Wednesday 27th March, Mr  Spencer pleaded guilty to sending malicious communications at Peterborough Magistrates’ Court and was given an eight-week prison sentence, suspended for 18 months.

Mr Spencer, of Murston Road, Sittingbourne, Kent, was also given a restraining order not to contact Clear Channel Media for two years and ordered to attend treatment for alcohol dependency for six months.

PC Mohammed Haleem said:

“These threats caused a great deal of stress for the victims, who were forced to repeatedly listen to Spencer’s violent outbursts.

I would urge anyone who receives threatening calls to report them so we can help to bring those responsible to justice.”