A 59-year-old man from East Belfast has been sentenced at Laganside Crown Court

in connection with offences relating to pipe bombs left at sporting grounds in August 2020.

In September this year, John Wilson was found guilty of three counts of attempted intimidation and one count of possessing explosives under suspicious circumstances. He was today sentenced to three years' imprisonment, with 18 months to be served in prison and 18 months to be served on licence.

The offences were connected to devices left on vehicles parked on Church Road, Belfast on 5th August 2020.

Commenting on the investigation, Detective Sergeant McVeagh said: "We received a 999 call from a public phone box alleging that four pipe bombs had been left at Henry Jones Playing Fields. At the time of the call, a recently-founded local GAA team were training at the complex.

"Police immediately attended the scene, and carried out searches until the following day, but at that time no devices were found. Later that afternoon, three vehicle owners made contact with police to report that they had located suspicious objects on their vehicles, which had been parked up while they attended training. One of these objects was a screwdriver, while forensic testing established that the other two were crude pipe bombs. "In all cases, those who had the objects left on their vehicles felt intimidated, and that this was an attempt to stop the team training at the playing fields." Detective Sergeant McVeagh detailed the subsequent police work: "John Wilson was arrested on 6th August. Despite CCTV footage showing him entering the public phone box from which the call was made, he denied that he had made the call and instead claimed he was on his way to a local takeaway. He continued to deny any involvement in this matter until much later, when he changed his story to state that he had made the phone call, under threat from people he feared might harm his family. He maintained that he had not left the objects on the vehicles.

"Examination of Wilson's phone uncovered incriminating and sectarian messages.

"There is no place in our society for any action motivated by hate. Had these pipe bombs exploded, they could have caused significant damage – not to mention injury, or worse. Substantial disruption was caused in the community and the victims were left shaken and scared when all they were doing was taking part in a sporting activity they loved. No-one should be left in fear when going about their lives.

"We would encourage anyone with information or concerns on hate-related activity to make a report. You can contact police on 101, or 999 in an emergency. Alternatively, you can submit a report online using the non-emergency reporting form via www.psni.police.uk/makeareport/. Should you wish to make a report anonymously, you can do so by contacting Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111 or online at crimestoppers-uk.org.

"We will always act on concerns and information from the community."