A SUPERMARKET worker who rang a store claiming bombs had been planted has been spared jail after a judge heard how he suffers from a rare genetic condition.

Shoppers and staff at Sainsbury’s in Westhoughton had to be evacuated for two hours on October 1 last year after 34-year-old Bipin Jesani called the shop at 12.45pm and told manager Gareth Lomas, “There’s explosives that have been brought into the store in produce on timers.”

Hunter Gray, prosecuting, told Bolton Crown Court how Jesani then hung up and Mr Lomas evacuated the building and contacted police.

“There was an estimated loss to the store of £3,000 as well as the alarm and distress caused,” said Mr Gray.

The court heard how Jesani, who worked at a different branch of Sainsbury’s, was caught by police using the store’s incoming phone data to trace his mobile phone.

When arrested on November 9 Jesani admitted the phone was his, but denied making the phone call to the Cricketers Way store, where his wife works.

He was due to stand trial yesterday accused of communicating false information intending a person would believe a bomb was present.

But before the trial could start he changed his plea to guilty.

The court heard how Jesani, of Lynsted Avenue, Great Lever, has no previous convictions but suffers from a rare genetic condition called tyrosinaemia which affects his neurological state and led him to needing an organ transplant when he was younger.

Paul Hodgkinson, defending, said the phone call made to the store was not malicious or as a result of a vendetta, but a momentary occurrence and he has now resigned from his job with the company.

Judge Richard Gioserano told Jesani: “You have now pleaded guilty to the offence, in short, making a bomb hoax telephone call.

“This sort of offending is always serious, particularly in the time in which we now live.”

However, he said he accepted Jesani’s rare conditon, which affects fewer than one in 100,00 people had affected his behaviour.

“It is possible you were suffering from a confused state at the time you made the telephone call,” Judge Gioserano told him.

Jesani was sentenced to eight months in prison, suspended for two years, must complete 40 days of rehabilitation activities and undergo mental health treatment for 12 months.

He was also ordered to pay £400 towards prosecution costs.