Two tried to blow up Plymouth phone boxes with improvised explosive devices
A PAIR of "reckless" youngsters tried to blow up two Plymouth phone boxes with home-made explosives, a court has been told.
Teenager Robin Rice and his accomplice Lee Newcombe, 21, caused hundreds of pounds of damage with their "thoughtless prank", Plymouth magistrates were told.
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Police described 18-year-old Rice's makeshift bomb — made by attaching a disassembled firework to a flammable cannister — as an "improvised explosive device" that could have caused serious injury.
Both admitted one joint charge of criminal damage and one of attempted criminal damage when they appeared in court yesterday.
The court was told how garage worker Newcombe, from Glenholt, had driven to the Milehouse area of the city with Rice on October 20 last year.
Rice, himself from Milehouse, had already made the explosives and placed one in a phone box in Outland Road.
The explosion caused nearly £200 of damage and blew the entire phone casing from the booth, said prosecutor Eoin McCarthy.
The pair then targeted another BT phone box in nearby Seagrave Road — but that time, the makeshift device failed to fully explode.
Mr McCarthy told the court: "Both offences involve damage caused to two telephone kiosks with what the police describe, perhaps rather grandly, as improvised explosive devices.
"They concocted what was effectively a firework and combined it with another form of metal tubing to cause an explosion."
Newcombe, of Buena Vista Drive, had never been arrested before and "deeply regretted" the incidents, the court was told.
His solicitor Michael Crumley said he had been "foolish and foolhardy", though the Crown Prosecution Service accepted he was not the ringleader.
District Judge Paul Farmer let Newcombe walk free with a £270 fine, also ordering him to pay £91.03 compensation, a £15 victim surcharge and contributions towards costs.
But Rice, who was conditionally discharged in March for driving offences and is awaiting trial over a separate allegation, was warned he may face custody.
"Your behaviour appals me and causes me substantial concern," Mr Farmer told Rice, of Oates Road, granting him unconditional bail before sentencing on August 17 so further reports could be prepared.
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by Kevin, Plymouth EUSSR
Wednesday, July 28 2010, 3:00PM
“Total cost to this prat £371.03, total cost to BT, the police and prosecutors, unknown but a heck of a lot more than this idiot was fined.I despair at the judicary in this country, he should have gone away for a long time”
by Anon, plymouth
Wednesday, July 28 2010, 12:31PM
“NO RELATION TO THE RICE FAMILY MENTIONED IN YESTERDAYS PAPER. JUST TO MAKE THAT CLEAR TO PEOPLE !”
by Anon, plymouth
Wednesday, July 28 2010, 12:26PM
“NO ITS NOT ANOTHER MEMBER OF THE RICE FAMILY. Some people are just plain nasty! This has nothing to do with them. Sally, plymouth don't comment on people you dont know !”
by Sylvia, North Prospect
Tuesday, July 27 2010, 11:51PM
“This Robin show feel ashamed for himself, i bet you his mums a heroin addict that doesnt care for him and she should be ashamed of him. what if someone needs to use one of these phones he blew up with his stink bombs. i would give him a good clip around the ear if i was his mum and he wont be allowed any involvement with the other person involved too. at 18 he should be getting off his ass and working hard not doing this, hes gonig to find himself either on the street or living in a scabby flat with 21 children. well thats if he hasnt blown his penish off.”
by paul, ISLEWORTH
Tuesday, July 27 2010, 10:41PM
“They should be done for terrorism - and ejected from Britain. They obviously want to kill people. Not difficult is it? If they were, as a few writers suggest, muslims then they should be treated as maniacs and chucked on a one-way cruise to the middle of the Atlantic.”
by james, ply
Tuesday, July 27 2010, 9:16PM
“Now now let me see if these pair had been muslims i do wonder what would have happened to them, what a farce this is and a total lack of justice for BT”
by Shipmate Ron, Plymouth
Tuesday, July 27 2010, 9:06PM
“Sally/Sami, you could be right. He could also be related to Clive Rice, former captain of Nottinghamshire Cricket Club.”
by C, Plymouth
Tuesday, July 27 2010, 8:19PM
“'reckless youngsters' 'thoughtless prank' these prats were 18 and 21 old enough to know right from wrong. They blew up one phone box causing 200 pounds of damage and damaged the second with home made bombs! Damaging Public Property used to be a criminal offence, did they stop to think of people who might rely on a public telephone to use in an emergency.”
by Gareth, bath
Tuesday, July 27 2010, 7:32PM
“These guys have done something ive been thinking of doing for ages now. Best thing too do with a BT phone box is too blow the bloomin thing up. 60p a call when you finally find one that isnt jammed with coins or has no cash box too it. I can count on 1 finger the amount of phone boxes working round here. Got a nice chap comes round changing the advert weekly on the box looks pretty but is about as much use as a car with no engine. Ring a BT engineer and report it i hear u say? Been there done that about 20 million times. get a nice voice from Bob in India asking were Bath is.”
by Sally, Plymouth
Tuesday, July 27 2010, 1:32PM
“Is this Rice from the same family as the Rice in yesterdays paper and there was someone saying what a lovely family he was from, thats not how I'd describe the family unit LOL”