A 46-year-old security guard was given a conditional discharge for three years yesterday after admitting that she made a false claim about a bomb threat on the US consulate two days after the terrorist attacks in America.

Magistrates' Court heard how Gloria Jean Gardner was working as a security guard on the Middle Road premises in Devonshire when she claimed to have received a call alleging a bomb was on the site.

Crown counsel Shade Subair told Magistrate Edward King that Gardner was working overnight on September 12 and 13 during a period of heightened security at the consulate, when she told Police officers she had taken the call in her security hut soon after 1.50 a.m.

Three off duty Police bomb squad officers rushed to the site and a thorough two-hour search of the property carried out.

When nothing was found on the premises, Police believed the threat had been made by a crank caller, and continued to investigate where it had come from.

Ms Subair said the telephone in the hut was an extension of the consulate switchboard, and when officers checked the log of the switchboard, they discovered there had been no incoming calls at the time stated by Gardner.

Despite giving a three-page statement to Police about the threatening call, Gardner, of Tribe Road No 1, Warwick, later admitted under questioning that she had made a false statement and had not received any such call.

The court heard how she had then told Police that she was concerned about possible threats on the Consulate and believed it would be the first target if Bermuda was hit.

Ms Subair said the accused had told Police that she had become afraid as she thought she had seen a number of cars slowing down as they drove past the property, and said pedestrians walking past had been staring in.

Ms Subair said: "She said she did not feel safe and so wanted the building thoroughly searched. She said she was sorry for making the false report, but was only trying to get the bomb squad officers to search the building and she did not think it was an offence."

The prosecutor told the court that as a result of the false statement, much anxiety had been caused at the Consulate. And the investigation had cost $2,200 and had led to 75 man hours for Police officers.

But defending Gardner, duty counsel Llewelyn Peniston said in mitigation that Gardner had suffered a head tumour and had been taking medication.

And he said Gardner had already suffered as a result of her actions as she had lost her job with the security firm, which she had held for some time, and had also lost her licence to work as a security guard.

He said Gardner was also concerned because in her work at the consulate she had come across a number of young men who had threatened to blow the building up because they had been refused visas to visit the US because of drug convictions.

He said: "This is clearly one of those cases where no harm was intended.

"This defendant has suffered a consequence of that. She has lost a job that she has enjoyed for the longest while. This is an additional punishment that she has incurred... She is a lady of tender years."

No evidence was offered in a second charge of making a false statement.