A woman who posted a note through her neighbour’s door saying a bomb was going to go off at her local mosque has been found guilty of communicating false information.

Terry Chester, of Fernbank Court, Nelson, denied the allegations but was found guilty following a trial at Burnley Magistrates’ Court on Thursday.

The court heard how on the morning of May 12, 2022, Chester, 60, made her way down Ross Street in Brierfield and posted a handwritten note through the door of a Mrs Bibi, before walking away.

CCTV footage played to the court clearly shows Chester, who has a full head of red hair, crouching down and placing something through a letterbox.

The note was found at around 10am by Mrs Bibi.

It read: "Bomb, Mosque, Sackville Street, set for this Monday. Also a man has a gun on Guildford Street."

The word ‘police’ was also written in capital letters and underlined.

Giving evidence in court, Chester said she has been at Morrisons the night before and had been conversing with a woman, possibly called Siobhan.

She said ‘Siobhan’ told her that her jealous partner was going to bomb the mosque in Sackville Street, Brierfield, after he saw her talking to a man from there, and if that failed he was going to get a gun from Guildford Street.

Chester said: “I asked her if she was going to tell the police and she said no as she didn’t want her partner to find out as she would be in more trouble.

“I went home and wrote a note about it. It was simply a note to help me process the information and debate about whether I should call the police.

“But I don’t trust the police so I decided to go and talk to someone from the mosque, that would be the better idea.

“The next morning I know I posted a letter to my landlord on Sackville Street, and I had the note in my pocket.

“I was hoping to see someone from the mosque but there wasn’t anyone about, so I took the phone number down and tried to call but no answer.

“I must’ve dropped the note, I can’t think of any other reason why I would go and post it in a letter box, it wasn’t a letter, it was a note to myself. I write everything down you see.

“I am not responsible for putting the note through that door.”

Magistrates found Chester, who has an arson and public order offence on her record dating back to the mid-1990s, guilty of the charge and ordered to her to pay £620 in costs.

She was granted unconditional bail so a pre-sentence report can be prepared and was ordered to attend Blackburn Magistrates' Court on April 6 to be sentenced.