Bomb hoaxer who brought Kirkwall Airport to standstill and threatened to eat child jailed

A bomb hoaxer who brought a Scottish airport to a standstill and threatened to kill and eat a child has been handed an extended six-year prison sentence.

Ross Buchan will serve four years behind bars and a further two years under social work supervision after a sheriff described his crimes as “awesomely gruesome”.

The 21-year-old sparked a major bomb scare from his Dundee flat after telling airport staff “aeroplane goes boom” and “up the Kremlin”.

All flights at Kirkwall Airport were grounded for hours, causing huge delays when Buchan hounded workers with sinister calls on January 4.

Luggage on the Loganair flight from Glasgow was re-scanned and police inspected the plane after Buchan claimed he had a friend who could “take control” of the aircraft.

Buchan pled guilty to inducing staff to believe a bomb was likely to ignite on an aircraft. He appeared at Dundee Sheriff Court via video link from Polmont YOI and was described as having ADHD and autism, and has been diagnosed with Oppositional Defiance Disorder.

Two months earlier, he had inundated a child with sexual images and videos before threatening to eat his dead body.

Buchan admitted to making repeated calls to the Orkney airport on the morning of January 4.

At around 9am, the duty officer hung up after receiving no response but eventually heard a “young, Scottish, monotone” male say: “Boom. Aeroplane goes boom.”

The calls continued, and threat protocol checks were carried out by the ground security supervisor.

Prosecutor Joanne Ritchie told the court: “At around 9.34am, the phone rang again from a withheld number. The [security supervisor] heard the accused immediately state LM432.

“They knew this to be the flight number for the 9.26am flight from Glasgow to Kirkwall Airport. The accused replied things such as ‘the plane is going to crash into the airport’ and ‘for the motherland’.

“The accused stated he had a friend on board the flight who could gain control of the plane and click a button. They inferred this to mean there was a bomb aboard the flight.”

Buchan continued to phone from a withheld number and said “up the Kremlin” and “justice for the motherland”.

Airport staff believed that the threats were not credible, but no chances were taken by Loganair, with the airline choosing to declare a bomb threat.

The airport was closed while emergency services carried out a walk-through of the plane, and luggage was re-scanned.

No bombs or explosives were discovered, and the airport reopened just before 2pm, disrupting Aberdeen and Edinburgh flights.

Buchan was arrested at his flat, and his phone was forensically examined.

Another examination found Buchan sent a hoard of vile messages and threats to a child with whom he played PlayStation games online.

Interactions were normal for a year before Buchan, who has autism and ADHD, became “weird and inappropriate” in November 2024.

He filmed or photographed himself naked and shared the lewd material on Snapchat.

Police found around 30 different files on a mobile phone and discovered he had made a number of threats in a group chat titled ‘Death’.

He threatened to stab and kill the boy and others in the chat and threatened to eat and rape their dead bodies.

Buchan pled guilty to coercing a child into looking at sexual content and making violent threats.

Solicitor Annika Jethwa, defending, said: “The whole situation was incompetent. He was drunk and under the influence of drugs and used his own mobile number.”

She said the calls lasted 27 and 14 minutes, and told the court Buchan had been bullied in prison since his arrest and remand on January 6 this year.

“This is his first period in incarceration for anything,” she said. “It has been extremely difficult for him. He has been significantly bullied by other prisoners.”

Sheriff George Way noted that Buchan’s bomb hoax directly impacted flights and forced the shutdown of Kirkwall Airport for several hours.

He also said Buchan’s sexual grooming of a 15-year-old was “extremely serious” and he had then threatened to murder a schoolboy and have sex with his dead body.

Sheriff Way said: “I am satisfied that nothing short of a custodial sentence can be imposed. Threats to airlines are incredibly serious and cannot be taken lightly.

“It involved the diversion of flights and there is no doubt whatsoever that he fully understands how serious it is – particularly in these difficult and fraught times – to suggest there’s a bomb on a plane.

“The first charge is an extremely serious sexual offence, where there was direct communication with a 15-year-old boy and involved images that were disgusting and explicit.

“He quite straightforwardly set out to obtain sexual gratification. It is a serious and persistent attempt to engage a 15-year-old boy in sexual activity.

“In the other charge, he threatened a young person that he was going to kill him, he uses the bomb threat again, and says he’s going to eat and have sex with the dead body.”

He jailed Buchan for two years for the plane bomb hoax, and two years with a further two-year extension in relation to the sexual charges. He imposed a five-year non-harassment order and put him on the Sex Offenders Register for life.

Sheriff Way said he could not put Buchan back into the community because: “There is a high level of risk. He lacks internal regulation of any sort.

“The likelihood of reconviction for further offences is unlikely to drop in any way unless he does something about that, but he has a history of non-engagement.”