Community work for bomb hoax

File photo / NZ Herald

A man who shut down a major Christchurch arterial road with a hoax bomb scare at a suburban hardware shop has been ordered to do 150 hours of community work.

Name suppression has also lifted on 43-year-old father-of-three Jonathan Mark Claridge, who had been remanded for sentence in Christchurch District Court today.

Claridge's interim suppression was revoked when he pleaded guilty on July 15 to charges of stealing $775 from the store and wasting police time with the bomb hoax.

He had immediately signalled an appeal to the High Court over suppression, but the appeal was later abandoned and his name can now be published.

The incident occurred at the Placemakers store in Cranford Street on June 30, when the store and the major road that passed it were closed for about three hours.

Claridge said he had found a ringing cellphone on a shelf in the store and when he answered it an unknown man told him about a bomb threat and instructed him to take cash out of the store.

He told two junior staff members to put notes from two cash registers into bags which were taken outside. He had used wiring and goods in the shop to make an object that looked like an improvised explosive device.

Defence counsel Andrew Riches told Judge Stephen Erber today that after the incident Claridge had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder. Claridge told police at the time he did it to get away from work because he was under a lot of pressure.

Judge Erber imposed the term of community work but made no order for reparations after being told by Mr Riches that the question had been resolved with Claridge's former employer.

Claridge was now working as a gardener.

- NZPA