Man denies building hoax bomb and sparking major incident

A man has denied behaving in a threatening or abusive manner by building a hoax bomb and leaving it in his hall outside his Aberdeen flat.

Police evacuated buildings and closed off streets around the Sinclair Road area of Torry on November 19 last year following the discovery of a “suspicious item” inside a property at 5.25pm.

An explosive ordnance disposal team (EOD) attended the incident, along with fire crews and police officers before it was eventually deemed safe for residents to return home just before 11pm.

Wojciech Lesniwicz is facing a charge of behaving in a threatening or abusive manner likely to cause a reasonable person to suffer fear or alarm over the incident.

It is alleged he built a hoax improvised explosive device and placed it in the hallway of his block of flats on Sinclair Road.

The 35-year-old was not personally present when the case called at Aberdeen Sheriff Court, but entered a plea of not guilty through solicitor Mike Monro.

‘Blue Peter-style contraption’

Mr Monro said he was not yet ready for trial as he wanted to speak to a member of the bomb disposal team regarding the appearance of the item found in the hallway.

He said: “Obviously I can’t examine that because it’s been blown up, so the next best thing is having them explain to me what it is they saw – essentially, whether it’s a real attempt to make a bomb or whether it’s a Blue Peter-style contraption with sticky-back plastic and toilet roll holders.”

Sheriff Morag McLaughlin adjourned the case against Lesniwicz, of Sinclair Road, Torry, until a further hearing in October.