A man has been jailed for making a hoax bomb threat in an attempt to delay his flight because he was late.

Jacob Meir Abdellak, 47, rang police and told them there was a bomb threat at Gatwick airport just eight minutes before his Norwegian flight to Los Angeles was scheduled to take off on 11 May.

Despite the plane being delayed for 90 minutes because of his call, he was still late for his flight and became abusive with airline staff when they refused to allow him onboard.

Airport staff later tracked the anonymous call to the phone Abdellak used for his original booking. The librarian from Amhurst Park, Hackney, London, was arrested on 22 May when he returned to board another US-bound flight.

He was jailed for 10 months and ordered to pay a £140 victim surcharge when he appeared at Lewes crown court on Tuesday, Sussex police said.

On the first day of his trial, after previously denying the charge, he changed his plea and admitted communicating false information regarding a noxious substance likely to create serious risk to human health. The French national initially claimed he had lost his sim card a few days earlier so the call could not have been made by him.

Ch Insp Marc Clothier of Gatwick police described Abdellak’s actions as ridiculous.

“He was running late for his flight and thought it would be a good idea to call in a hoax bomb. This turned out to be the worst decision he could have made,” Clothier said. “His actions caused a level of fear and distress among a number of staff and passengers on board that flight.

“The consequences of making allegations about bombs, guns or similar at densely populated locations such as airports are well documented, and Abdellak’s sentence serves as a warning to others that this sort of behaviour will not be tolerated and offenders will be dealt with robustly.”