Social services bomber jailed

A South Yorkshire man who planted a bomb outside Doncaster Council’s children’s department in a revenge attack on social workers has been jailed indefinitely.

Former security guard James Wilson placed the device – made out of a butane gas canister, petrol and screws – outside Concord House in Hyde Park last April after he was forced by social workers to live apart from his wife and teenage daughter.

Wilson, 44, had to leave his wife and 14-year-old daughter after being charged over allegations that he was involved in computer pornography.

The charges were later dropped but by that time Wilson had become unstable, living on his own in a bedsit, Doncaster Crown Court heard.

Judge Jacqueline Davies told Wilson the offence was “deliberate and planned”. “Mercifully no damage was caused, despite your intention borne out of a grudge, but you caused disruption and loss to the local authority and its services,” she said.

Earlier, Doncaster Crown Court heard Wilson was “a man driven to the brink of despair” after social workers forced him out of the family home following the unproven allegations.

Wilson was arrested after he talked to a social worker about the bomb and went on to explain how to make an incendiary device. Materials used to make the device were found at Wilson’s home, along with newspaper cuttings about social services. On a bedroom wall he had written: “All I dream about is death so here I come.”

Judge Davies told Wilson he would serve at least three-and-a-half years in jail.

“It’s not for me to make any comment at all on the action taken by the local authority,” she said. “I am satisfied that you are a dangerous offender and you will be sentenced for public protection.”

Nobody was injured and no buildings were damaged after Wilson tried to detonate the bomb but the social services offices at Concord House were closed for a day and 150 working days lost, costing Doncaster Council £35,000.

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