A DAD who made a hoax bomb threat to a mosque just hours after the terror attack at Westminster has been jailed.

Christopher Massey, of Brightwell Avenue, Westcliff, dialled 999 at about 5pm on Wednesday, March 22 to say that he had left two kilograms of explosives outside the Southend Mosque and Islamic Trust, in West Road, Westcliff.

Basildon Crown Court heard yesterday that the 46-year-old told the operator “you better get round there because it’s going to go up like a bomb”.

Officers immediately searched the area but could not find anything suspicious. They promptly arrested Massey after tracing the mobile number used to call police.

Cyrus Shroff, prosecuting, said: “This defendant has demonstrated racial and religious hostility and this was a hate crime.

“When he was arrested, he said that he was a racist.

“In interview, he said that he recalled speaking to an operator and wanted to know where the mosque was because he wanted to put Semtex through the window because he was so frustrated about the terror attack.”

Carly Dennis, mitigating, told the court that Massey made the phone call after he had been drinking heavily because he had just been made bankrupt.

He said: “He has asked me to express his deep remorse, shame and embarrassment for this incredibly unpleasant incident.

“Unfortunately the day prior to this incident, he was informed that he had been made bankrupt. Coupled with no contact with his children and what happened in Westminster, he turned to alcohol.

“He accepts that he made the phone call but he stated that there was nothing sinister behind it.

“He does not have any extreme views. He said that it was a drunken mistake.”

Massey admitted making the threat and breaching a community order he was subject to at the time after he was previously convicted of harassment.

Sentencing, Judge Ian Graham told Massey: “Offences such as these must inevitably attract a custodial sentence. They put people in fear and are a distraction to the forces of law and order.

“Any sentence must be a deterrent to anyone tempted to act in this way.”

Judge Graham jailed Massey for 12 months for the bomb hoax and ordered him to spend a further month in prison for breaching the community order.