A late-running librarian from Stamford Hill who made a “ridiculous” bomb hoax call so he could catch his flight at Gatwick has been jailed.

Jacob Meir Abdellak of Amhurst Park was running late for the Norwegian flight to LA and thought contacting police to report a threat was a wise move.

The anonymous call was made at 5.47am on May 11 – just eight minutes before the flight was due to depart – and delayed it by 90 minutes.

Abdellak still wasn’t allowed to board because he arrived so late, and he became abusive towards staff. It was later discovered the number used to call in the bomb threat was the same one he had submitted when booking.

He was arrested 11 days later while trying to board another flight to the USA at Gatwick and charged with communicating false information regarding a noxious substance likely to create serious risk to human health.

Abdellak denied the charges, claiming he had lost the SIM card days before the call and therefore it could not have been made by him.

But on the first day of the trial he changes his mind and pleaded guilty. He was jailed for 10 months and ordered to pay a £140 victim surcharge.

Gatwick police Ch Insp Marc Clothier said: “This was a quite ridiculous decision made by Abdellak, who fabricated an extremely serious allegation purely for his own benefit.

“He was running late for his flight and thought it would be a good idea to call in a hoax bomb, however this turned out to be the worst decision he could have made.

“His actions caused the flight to be delayed, and also caused a level of fear and distress among a number of staff and passengers on board that flight.

“The consequences of making allegations about bombs, guns or similar at densely populated locations such as airports are well documented, and Abdellak’s sentence serves as a warning to others that this sort of behaviour will not be tolerated and offenders will be dealt with robustly.”