Bristol University’s Independent Student Newspaper
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Monday 30th April 2012
Hoax email causes halls bomb scare “
Two small bombs are hidden in Wills and Durdham Halls. Take this warning very, very seriously.
Jenny Awford Deputy News Editor A bomb threat on Monday 23rd April saw hundreds of students evacuated from both Wills and Durdham Halls in Stoke Bishop. The University received an anonymous warning in an email that was later treated a hoax. The Metropolitan Police is currently conducting an on-going investigation to trace the source of the threat. The Community Beat Manager for the University of Bristol, Nick
Boyce, revealed the details of the anonymous email sent to the University’s admissions office at 1.30pm: ‘Two small bombs are hidden in Wills and Durdham Halls. They will explode later today. Take this warning very very seriously.’ The decision to evacuate the two halls of residence was taken by the University after the Senior Management team met with representatives from Avon and Somerset Police and the University Security Services. The fire alarms
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were activated at 2.45pm and evacuated students were sent to Hiatt Baker canteen. Boyce commented that, ‘The area surrounding the two halls was cordoned off whilst 35 officers and staff from Avon and Somerset Police and the University Security team searched and patrolled the area. ‘We were extremely fortunate that there were two sniffer dogs trained specifically to detect explosives in the Bristol area.’ This was because of Prime Minister David Cameron’s visit to the City on the same day. Wills Hall resident, Jenny Salter, commented saying, ‘Information was limited until we arrived at Hiatt Baker and word started to spread round that there was a bomb scare. Everyone thought it was a bit of a joke until we saw it on Facebook and Burst Radio.’ In an emergency email sent out at 3.30pm, Deputy Registrar for Education and Students, Lynn Robinson, confirmed that the University had been contacted to say that an ‘explosive device had been placed in both of the halls’. This message was sent to encourage students to report any suspicious behaviour and prevent them from returning to the two halls of residence. The residents at Durdham Hall were permitted to return to their rooms at 4.45pm after the police and security services had completed their search of the communal
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areas. Boyce told Epigram that ‘students were asked to thoroughly search their own rooms and report anything suspicious to the security guards stationed at Durdham.’ The conference area at Wills Hall was searched thoroughly by the security team as an exam for the Open University was being held that afternoon. The accommodation corridors and communal areas in Wills were checked and cleared by 6.30pm when all the students were permitted to return. The University of Bristol Director of Communications and Marketing,
David Alder, sent a message to all students at 7.30pm saying, ‘Both halls have now been searched, found to be clear and student residents in both have been allowed to return.’ Boyce commented that, ‘Overall, the traumatic incident was very well managed and the students were very co-operative throughout’. Bristol University was not alone in receiving bomb threats as Leicester, Exeter, Sussex and Durham universities were also contacted with similar warning messages on Monday. The Durham University student newspaper
Palatinate reported that University College and the Students’ Union buildings were both evacuated and searched. The University of Kent was targeted the next day and two residential buildings were evacuated as a precaution. These incidents are now also being treated as a hoax. Boyce commented that, ‘As the investigation progressed it became apparent that this was a coordinated operation with the same email being sent through a remailer to several different Universities’. This makes the source of the original email very difficult to trace.
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