Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Five years jail for Jobcentre hostage thug
A MAN who took hostages at a Jobcentre after saying “I have a bomb” has been jailed for five years and four months.
Maxwell Brennan, 28, who was wearing a fake suicide vest, put a knife to a security guard’s throat.
Staff were tied up with tape. He was also carrying hammers, the court heard.
Police negotiated the hostages’ release before Brennan gave himself up after the three-hour siege in June near his home in Byker, Newcastle. Tony Cornberg, defending, told the city’s crown court it was a “loud” cry for help.
Brennan admitted offences including false imprisonment. Judge Paul Sloan QC said: “There has been a marked psychological impact upon several of the hostages.”