8:00am Tuesday 9th February 2010
By Mark Tallentire
A BUSY city centre street was closed for three hours yesterday after a hoaxer planted a fake petrol bomb.
The alert was sounded shortly before 10am yesterday, when a suspicious bag was spotted outside the back of Cotswold Outdoor shop, in Silver Street, Durham.
Several shops were evacuated and a 100-metre cordon was imposed.
Police, firefighters and a bomb disposal squad were called to the scene.
The bag contained a pop bottle made to look like a petrol bomb and had a fuse running from the outside.
After examining the device, explosives experts found it to be a hoax.
Areas of Silver Street, a busy shopping area and thoroughfare, remained blocked for three hours, until about 1pm.
The incident is likely to have cost the city economy thousands of pounds.
Superintendent Neil Malkin, of Durham Police, said: “This was a genuine hoax.
Our priority, as in all these incidents, is the security of the public.
“The device was deliberately made up to look like a bomb and we are appealing to anyone with information to contact us.
“In particular, we are appealing to anyone, perhaps a milkman or early shift worker, to let us know if they saw anyone or anything suspicious in the area.”
Mark Gilbank, store manager at Cotswold Outdoor, said: “We followed our company procedure then, obviously, we put it in the hands of the local police and once we had handed it over to them, they dealt with it.”
Durham councillor David Freeman said: “I don’t think I’ve ever heard of something like this in Durham. I don’t know who would want to target Silver Street.
“This is very serious. I would ask residents to be vigilant.”
One shopper said: “I was walking through the Market Place and I saw the police cars, a fire engine and a bomb disposal unit parked at the top of Silver Street.
“There was a line of yellow police tape and a crowd of people watching what was going on.
“People were interested in what was happening and a lot of people had stopped to look, but they didn’t seem to think there was any danger.”
Anyone with information is asked to call police on 0345-60-60-365, or Crimestoppers on 0800-555-111.
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