FRIDAY JULY 17 2009
36p
COURT DATE SET
BIGAMY CHARGE Judge will hear case against city man – PAGE 3
Child abuse charge accused due back in dock – PAGE 2
WOMAN IN NAVY BOMB HOAX CASE Warship and shore station evacuated A WOMAN has been charged with making three bomb hoax calls which caused the evacuation of a Plymouth warship and part of Devonport Dockyard.
Rhiannon Leigh, aged 28, is accused of claiming that explosives were on board HMS Northumberland and in the HMS Drake shore base. Plymouth Magistrates’ Court heard that the frigate was evacuated, along with nearby ships. Louise Howard, prosecuting, said the northern part of the dockyard had to be cordoned off. She said the Royal Navy estimated that the total cost of the alarm was about £10,000. Leigh, of Laurel Dene, North Prospect, entered no plea to three charges that she made three calls to different personnel falsely claiming there were explosives on
by STUART ABEL Court Reporter HMS Northumberland and HMS Drake. All the calls were said to have been made on April 8, just days after HMS Northumberland had returned home from a six-month deployment which saw her tackle pirates and deliver humanitarian aid to war-torn Somalia. Miss Howard said of the hoax calls: “It caused a great deal of upheaval.” Leigh, bespectacled and smartly dressed, spoke only to confirm her pleas and give the court her personal details. Plymouth magistrates decided that the case should be heard at Crown court. Leigh was released on unconditional bail to appear back before magistrates on September 10 while her case is prepared. HMS Northumberland was the first vessel to safely escort World
Food Programme ships along the 1,500-mile Somalian coastline, infested with pirates. The crew of the Type 23 frigate
helped deliver food sufficient to fee 2.5 million people to the Somalian ports of Boosaaso, Berbera and Mogadishu.
ALERT: HMS Northumberland, above, and HMS Drake, left, were evacuated after the hoax calls, at a cost the Navy puts at £10,000
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