A passenger who caused a bomb scare on his own flight because he was running late has been jailed for 16 months.

Rashidul Islam was due to fly from Gatwick Airport to Morocco to see his fiancee, but his train from Cricklewood unexpectedly terminated at St Pancras.

He took a taxi from the train station in Central London but ran into further transport difficulties when the traffic was so bad he would have minutes to get through security.

The 32-year-old then decided to call police 45 minutes before the flight was due to take off and told them a bomb might be on board.

A Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) spokesman said: “Islam anonymously called police 45 minutes before his easyJet booking from Gatwick was due to take off, warning: ‘Someone may have a bomb on the plane, you need to delay the flight’.

“The hoaxer made two further threats in the following minutes – causing crew on the 5.40pm flight to Marrakesh to be evacuated and all 147 passengers to be checked again by security.

“Luggage also had to be removed and re-screened, resulting in a three-hour delay at Britain’s second busiest airport on a bank holiday weekend.”

The call did buy Islam more time, but he was arrested at the gate when he got to the airport because police had tracked him as the caller.

The flight eventually took off at 8.50pm with a new cabin crew, as the original crew had exceeded their hours because of the delay.

Islam told police he had panicked about missing his flight because he could not afford another ticket.

Natalie Smith, of the CPS, said: “Rashidul Islam suggests his 999 calls were simply a misguided solution to running late and not intended to cause genuine fear.

“But the bomb hoax was intended to make authorities fear there was a genuine enough threat that they needed to search the plane.

“The consequences were so serious that flight crew had to be evacuated, passengers rechecked and luggage removed – at a cost of three extra hours on the runway and £30,000 to the airline.”

Since the hoax. Islam has also been sentenced to 42 months in prison for money laundering offences, which were not connected.

Islam pleaded guilty at Lewes Crown Court to communicating false information and was also banned from Gatwick Airport.

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