Northern Ireland

Ex-soldier accused of bomb threats against Gerry Adams

Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams
Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams

A FORMER Territorial Army soldier has appeared in court charged with making bomb threats against Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams and four other party members.

Eric Rohloff faced 14 charges including making threats to kill, wasting police time and misuse of public communications.

The Sunday Life reported that Mr Rohloff is accused of threatening to kill Sinn Féin's Mickey Brady and of causing bomb alerts at the home of Mr Adams and Martina Anderson in May.

He is also alleged to have made bomb warnings against Sinn Féin assembly member Raymond McCartney.

Belfast magistrates court heard Mr Rohloff made the threats in phone calls to the Samaritans in Coleraine and Omagh as well as Sinn Féin offices in Derry and Armagh.

He is also accused of making a bomb threat against Mehria Primary School, an independent Islamic primary school in Luton, England.

The court heard he allegedly called the Samaritans in Coleraine on May 4 threatening to kill Mr Brady and later that day phoned the organisation's Omagh office claiming there was a bomb at the home of MEP Ms Anderson.

He is accused of phoning a Sinn Féin office in Derry the following day claiming there were bombs at the homes of Mr McCartney and Ms Anderson as well as telephoning an individual threatening again to kill Mr Brady.

The court heard he allegedly called the Andersonstown News to say there was a bomb at the house of the Sinn Féin president in west Belfast.

No bail application was made in court on Saturday and he was remanded into custody to appear via videolink on Thursday.

It is understood Mr Rohloff has lived in his home on Clifton Road, just off the Ballyholme Road, in Bangor for five years.

On his Facebook profile, it states he was a member of the Territorial Army until 2012 and he has posted a number of photographs of himself in military uniform.

According to his social media profile, he has travelled extensively to Canada, where it is believed he had applied for residency.

He has also posted pictures of several holidays to Denmark.