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A Gatwick Airport passenger phoned in a bomb hoax on his own flight because he was running late and feared he was going to miss it.

Rashidul Islam, 32, made the irresponsible call to police in the hope it would delay the easyJet flight long enough for him to arrive.

He made the anonymous call on May 4 and told the call handler: "easyJet flight 8897 leaves in 40 minutes… There may be a bomb on the plane, you need to delay it, you need to stop it now."

All passengers on the 5.40pm Gatwick to Marrakech flight were held in the gate room and the crew were evacuated from the plane.

During this time, a Islam, from Ivy Road, Cricklewood, turned up late for check-in, and enquiries revealed the mobile number used to make the hoax call was the same as his number.

Police arrested the designer in the North Terminal.

In police interview, Islam fully admitted the offence. He claimed he intended to travel to Marrakech to meet with his fiancée, however he had problems on public transport which caused him to be late for his flight.

In a desperate attempt to delay it, he called 999 to say he had information there was a bomb on the plane.

Islam pleaded guilty to making the bomb hoax and at Lewes Crown Court on Friday, January 17 he was sentenced to 16 months in jail. He has also been banned from Gatwick Airport.

Investigating officer, Detective Constable Stephen Trott, said: “While the defendant expressed remorse, there is no excuse for his actions that day and he has been sentenced accordingly.

“Making a false report of a bomb on a plane not only causes significant costs and delays to the airport and its passengers; it also strikes fear into the community.

“We treat all reports of this nature extremely seriously, and anyone caught committing such an offence will be dealt with robustly.

“We work closely with Gatwick Airport and its airlines to ensure people are kept as safe as possible, and we will not tolerate anyone who compromises this.”

Following Islam’s arrest, all luggage was re-screened and the passengers were re-checked through security, and the flight eventually departed at 8.54pm – more than three hours later than scheduled.