Ex-squaddie with a grudge made MOD bomb threats

A Gulf War veteran with an axe to grind against the British Army threatened to kidnap his former commanding officer and blow up MOD buildings.

Christopher Owens (39) was a family man with a job before his experiences in the war began to have an adverse effect on him and he took to the telephone to make his violent threats – giving his full name and details on each occasion.

Appearing at Falkirk Sheriff Court last Thursday, Owens had pled guilty to sending threatening messages from his home in 4 Union Road, Camelon on October 19, November 6, 12 and 22.

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Procurator fiscal depute Michael Maguire said Owens’ campaign against his former employers began when a senior officer in the British Army received e-mails from Owens stating “everyone knows who you are now” and referencing a picture of soldiers carrying a coffin draped in a Union Jack with a message stating “This is what should happen to all of you – the more the better”.

Mr Maguire continued: “He then phoned a corporal in the Royal Military Police and told him if he didn’t receive compensation from the army he would instruct the kidnap of his former commanding officer.

“He said he had instructed family members to blow up Ministry of Defence establishments. He also called Police Scotland and was irate his mobile phone had been seized.

“He said he would come and take his phone by force from Falkirk Police Station. When he was warned he would be arrested if he did so he replied ‘there would be no polis station to put me in – after you get 40 gangsters come through from south east Glasgow armed to the hilt to get my phone’.”

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He later admitted his medication was responsible for him making the threats.

Dick Sandeman, defence solicitor, said: “Obviously he has an issue about what happened to him when he served in the Gulf War.”

Sheriff Derek Livingston placed Owens on a supervised community payback order for three years with a requirement to attend at the mental health service.