Ex-US sailor admits threat calls

O'Shea served on board the USS Peleliu

An Irish-born former US navy officer has admitted making hundreds of threatening phone calls.

They included threats to the life of US President George W Bush and a number of bomb hoaxes which caused security alerts in California.

Noel O'Shea, 39, who lives in Salthill, Galway, will be sentenced at the next sitting of the circuit court after psychiatric reports are prepared.

O'Shea, who was born in Kilkenny, emigrated to the US in 1992.

He joined the US navy the following year and served as an engineer on board the USS Peleliu until 1997 when he received an honourable discharge.

FBI Special Agent Christopher J Meyer told the court he first met O'Shea at the naval base in San Diego when he phoned him to say he had information in relation to the IRA.

He interviewed him but nothing came of it.

Between 1997 and 2005 he received 500 threatening calls from O'Shea.

Detective Sergeant Maura Walsh from the National Bureau of Criminal Investigation said the calls included threats to President Bush; claims that bombs had been placed under an interstate highway and on board a US warship.

Sgt Walsh said these calls had caused massive disruption.

There were also threats to the US Embassy in Dublin.

Det Walsh said she searched O'Shea's Galway home in January 2005 and arrested him under the Offences Against the State Act.

She told the court he never denied making the phone calls.

Defence counsel John Peart said his client was admitted to a psychiatric hospital in Kilkenny in 1997 and asked that sentencing be postponed until reports on his state of mental health could be prepared.

Judge Raymond Groarke adjourned the case until 10 July.