A hoax caller who sparked a huge air-sea rescue operation on both sides of the Irish Sea yesterday was in custody in Britain last night. His arrest, after police found him at home with the mobile phone used in the calls, came after helicopters and lifeboats spent hours in bad weather searching for his "sinking" boat.
Mr Sydney Grayston (52) is due in court in Preston, Lancashire, this morning, charged under the malicious calls section of Britain's Telecommunications Act. He could face six months' imprisonment if convicted.
Police went to the house to contact the "missing" man's relatives, in the midst of a massive Irish and British operation to find his fictional catamaran, reported sinking in the Irish Sea early yesterday. Although the hoax was said to have been elaborately planned, the caller used his real name, enabling police to trace his address.
A spokesman said Mr Grayston was "embarrassed, confused and distressed" when questioned about the incident. In the Republic alone, more than 50 people were involved in the search. An Air Corps helicopter from Finner Camp, Co Donegal, was joined by a fixed-wing aircraft from Baldonnel, which was on fisheries patrol. Four coastal search units were also dispatched from Donegal.
Meanwhile, the Irish Marine Emergency Service's co-ordination centre in Dublin contacted gardai and harbour masters from Malin Head to Killala, as well as ringing all hotels in the area to see if the "missing" man had stayed there.
The IMES chief of operations, Capt Jeff Livingstone, said the coast-guard service in Belfast had requested assistance at about 9.20 a.m. "At first they believed he might be somewhere off Rathlin because he said he could see an island, but then it was gradually broadened."
The coastal units had been out for several hours when the hoax was uncovered. Wind conditions were "force seven - almost gale force," according to Capt Livingstone. A British police spokesman put the cost at more than £239,000.
The Minister for the Marine, Dr Woods, said it was "absolutely abhorrent" that rescue personnel had risked their lives over a "mindless prank".
