Nottinghamshire man jailed after threatening to blow up a house

Keiron Anderson forced his way into a house in Newark on April 16, before going on a rampage, smashing up the TV, glass windows and ripping the cooker off the wall, causing a gas leak.

The woman who lived in the house managed to escape with her 12-year-old son, before Anderson locked himself inside and told them to call the police.

Officers arrived at 7.30pm and it quickly escalated into a large emergency response after Anderson lit a kitchen towel and threw it towards the gas pipe.

Residents were evacuated and an extensive amount of police and other emergency service resources were used, including; armed support, helicopter, ambulance service, fire service, emergency response gas team and a police hostage negotiator.

During the standoff, and while gas continued to fill the property, Anderson threatened to kill any officer who attempted to enter the house. He eventually gave himself up several hours later and was taken to Queen’s Medical Centre for a cut to his hand, caused by him smashing the window.

Anderson, of no fixed address, was sentenced to three years and four months at Nottingham Crown Court today, October 30.

He had pleaded guilty to making threats to kill, criminal damage and making threats to cause criminal damage.

DC Scott Dickenson said: “This incident was hugely intensive on our resources, as well as other emergency services. A whole community was disrupted due to the selfish actions of one man.

“Thankfully no one sustained any injuries, but I suspect that the only reason the house didn’t explode was because Anderson had previously smashed a window.

“No one deserves to go to work and have their life threatened, which is what happened to many officers during the incident. People who join the emergency services do so because they want to help people, so it would have also been a frustrating time for all of those workers, aware of how many 999 calls were being made during those hours, by people who really needed their help.”