AN inmate in a prison segregation unit made a hoax bomb threat in a phone call to the Samaritan’s listening service, a court heard.

Ben Skinner used the dedicated Samaritan’s help-line within the unit at Durham Prison, purporting to be a “peaceful Muslim” whose family was under threat by members of the militant jihadi Islamic State group, unless he planted three bombs at the Metrocentre in Gateshead, timed to detonate at 9am on the morning of Christmas Eve.

He also claimed he had been given “a vest”, thought to mean a suicide explosive vest, timed to go off shortly beforehand, to cause panic among shoppers who would then run to the exits, where the bombs would be detonated.

Durham Crown Court heard that despite being a usually confidential service, because of the threatening nature of the call, made shortly after 12.30am on Christmas Eve, it was reported to police.

It led to an extensive search being carried out at the indoor shopping complex, with the “all clear” only given at 7am, allowing trading to go ahead on what was expected to be one of the centre’s busiest shopping days of the year.

David Crook, prosecuting, said the call was traced to the prison where it was discovered the Samaritans help-line phone had been signed out to Skinner, in the separation and care unit, at the time.

Twenty-five-year-old Skinner, of Wallsend, North Tyneside, who is serving a six-year prison sentence for aggravated burglary, admitted a charge of communicating false information.

The court heard he has since received a two-year sentence for assaulting a prison officer at the jail in a separate incident, earlier this year.

Mark Harrison, mitigating, told the court Skinner’s earliest release date was to have been in mid-June, next year.

“His reaction, when I spoke to him today about the chaos that could have been caused, was that he would never have done it, ‘in a million years’, if he knew that was what would have happened.

“He told me that despite being in segregation, an inmate in an adjacent cell gave him some legal high.

“While under the influence of that, the telephone call was made.”

Judge Christopher Prince told Skinner his mischievous actions were an abuse of the Samaritans help-line service, which is seen as a “safety valve” for inmates at a low ebb during their confinement.

“The Samaritans is a wonderful organisation that provide a terribly important service, not just to prisoners, but to the public across the nation.

“Thankfully, your behaviour has not had any adverse impact on the work the Samaritans do and neither has it had any effect on the availability of that help-line to prisoners.”

He imposed a further two year sentence, to follow on consecutively to the sentence now being served by Skinner.