Summary
A man who twice threatened to use a bomb to blow up asylum seekers living in a hotel has avoided being sent to prison. Benji Griffiths was allowed to go free from Cheltenham Magistrates’ Court despite admitting making the threat twice in four days last year. The 37-year-old made telephone calls to the Ibis Hotel in Corinium Avenue, Gloucester, on September 9 and 12, after being angered by the presence of asylum seekers there. It has been one of a large number of hotels used by the British government to temporarily house would-be immigrants while it struggles to process an increasing number of people wanting to claim asylum in the UK. Union flag-waving protesters had staged an anti-migrants protest outside the hotel 10 days before Griffiths made his threats. He pleaded guilty to two charges of sending communication threatening death or serious harm at a hearing on March 3 this year and returned to court last Friday (April 10) to be sentenced. Prosecuting, Emily Packer said Griffiths, of Tufthorn Avenue, Coleford, Gloucestershire, made the first of his two phone calls to the hotel at about 2.30pm on September 9 last year. She said he asked if there were any rooms available but was told that there were not. The prosecutor added: “He then replied ‘That’s because you’ve got those immigrants in there’ and then he said ‘I’m going to bring a bomb to the hotel.'” Miss Packer said the hotel staff member queried Griffiths about what he had said. She said he then repeated his threat, saying: “Be prepared. I’m going to bring a bomb to the hotel”, before adding “UK all the way.” The court then heard that Griffiths made his second phone call to the hotel, at about 4.15pm on September 12 last year. Miss Packer said he asked the member of staff who he spoke to: “How would you feel if I brought a bomb to the hotel and blew up all the immigrants?” She added that the hotel reported the calls to the police and Griffiths was identified, arrested and charged. The prosecutor said that Griffiths, who did not have any previous convictions, had committed racially aggravated offences while making multiple threats via the phone calls. Defending himself, Griffiths apologised to the court and to the hotel for his actions, which he said he regretted. He added: “My conduct fell below the standards expected. Since then, I’ve taken steps to learn to make better decisions in my life going forward to make sure it doesn’t happen again.” Asked by the presiding justice, Stephen Pitt, what steps he had taken, Griffiths said: “I’ve cut my drinking down. I’m drinking water rather than alcohol. “I feel I’m in a better state of mind. I’ve cut social media out completely. “What I did was stupid.” He added that he had the “utmost sympathy” for the staff at the hotel who might have been alarmed by what he did. Mr Pitt told Griffiths that his “unacceptable actions”, which he felt were related to drinking alcohol, were surprising considering his previous good character. He added that the probation service felt the chance of Griffiths offending again in the future was low. The magistrates gave him a 12-month community order, requiring him to do 180 hours of unpaid work and have an alcohol monitoring tag for 120 days. They also fined him a total of £199.