A hospital security guard who perpetrated a bomb hoax which shut down an accident and emergency unit in Birmingham and cost the NHS £218,000 has been jailed for 15 months.

Birmingham Crown Court heard that Jeffrey Martin Horne, 43, planted the "realistic" device just weeks after starting work at the Good Hope Hospital in Sutton Coldfield.

Horne, formerly of Mile Oak, Tamworth, showed no emotion as the court was told how the "stupid and frightening" offence had caused massive disruption which even saw four babies born prematurely.

Almost 80 surgical operations were cancelled due to the near six-hour security alert, which only ended after a controlled explosion carried out by an Army unit drafted in from Gloucestershire.

Passing sentence on Horne, Judge Sybil Thomas said she believed the former soldier, who was seen apparently attempting to defuse the "bomb" in a toilet cubicle, had staged the hoax to seek attention.

The judge told the father-of-four: "You were employed as a security officer trusted to keep the hospital safe.

"This was therefore a gross breach of that trust."

Criticising Horne for failing to alert the authorities that the bomb was not genuine after the alarm was raised, the judge added: "You were present, you worked at the hospital, you had experience working in security and you knew what would happen.

"You saw the harm you had caused unfold, and did nothing."

Horne, who is said to have "paraded" in front of camera crews covering the security alert from behind a 100-metre cordon, covered his face as he arrived at today's hearing on crutches and with his left arm in a plaster cast.

It is thought he had been working at Good Hope on a temporary basis for around six weeks when he planted the package, which incorporated black and white wiring and a bottle containing a liquid.

Horne, said by his counsel to be anxious and depressed due to the nature of his work, pleaded guilty in May to placing an article with intent at the hospital at about 8am on November 23 last year.