A man has been sentenced to prison for placing a calculated bomb hoax call to a synagogue just days after a tragic terror incident in Manchester. Markel Ible, aged 32, used an undisclosed number to contact Sinai Synagogue in Roundhay, Leeds, claiming a bomb had been planted and was set to detonate the next day. This act, deemed to instill panic and fear, occurred shortly after the assault on the Heaton Park Hebrew Synagogue in Crumpsall, Manchester.
Following the attack in Manchester where Melvin Cravitz, 66, and Adrian Daulby, 53, lost their lives and three others were injured due to Jihad Al-Shamie’s actions, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) swiftly charged Ible the day after the threatening call was reported. Ible, residing in St Martins Gardens, Leeds, admitted to the bomb hoax charge on October 8 and was detained. He has now been sentenced to 10 months in prison by Leeds Crown Court.
Ann Graham, the senior crown prosecutor for CPS Yorkshire and Humberside, expressed that Ible’s deliberate actions aimed to induce panic and fear, especially given the timing following the tragic events in Manchester. Dave Rich, the policy director for Jewish charity Community Security Trust (CST), emphasized the severity of the incident, labeling Ible’s hoax call as not only reckless but also cold-hearted and premeditated, causing further distress to a community already reeling from recent events.