Poll station shoebox feared to be explosive

BY GRANT McCABE reporters@dailyrecord.co.uk sentenced at the High Court in Glasgow.

The 48-year-old had earlier pled guilty to placing the package with the intention of inducing people to believe it was likely to explode or ignite.

A judge heard there appeared to be no motive for the incident.

Lord Matthews told Conoboy the authorities had “enough to do” without having to deal with such incidents. He added: “The only conclusion is that this episode was caused or contributed to by gross intoxication, which is no excuse.”

The crime happened on the day of the UK general election, with a community room at the block of flats at Glen Tower being used as a polling station.

The court heard how the package had been spotted by a resident in the early hours, who then phoned the police.

Residents in the flats were evacuated and the polling station was relocated.

A cordon was set up and a bomb disposal team arrived with specialist equipment, including a robot capable of destroying the device. Prosecutor Isla Davie QC said: “The experts believed the device could potentially be a viable explosive and a controlled explosion was carried out.”

It was later confirmed it contained no explosive hazard.

CCTV footage watched later showed Conoboy, who lived in the tower block, placing the box in the lobby.

His DNA matched samples taken from the mobile phone.

Billy Lavelle, defending, said: “There is nothing I can say as to why he has done this.”