Terror alert sparked after ‘hoax suicide vest’ found in Sheffield

A terror alert has been sparked after a replica suicide vest was found in Sheffield city centre.

Specialist officers were called after a member of the public spotted an item, resembling a suicide vest, hanging from railings at Furnival Gate, South Yorkshire Police revealed.

The item was checked and found to be a homemade replica containing no viable parts or explosives.

Since the discovery on 19 November, South Yorkshire Police are issuing warnings against the dangers of “ill-judged” terrorism related pranks.

Detective Chief Inspector Steve Whittaker, from the Sheffield Local Policing Unit, said: "While the item was quickly determined to be a hoax, given the recent events in Paris, this clearly had the potential to cause widespread distress and draw a significant policing response.

"Following investigation, I believe this incident was an ill-judged prank, but people must remember the very real dangers of this type of behaviour.

"If someone had been seen with the vest the policing response would have, in all probability, involved armed officers and placed the individual in very serious danger.

"The member of the public did exactly the right thing in contacting police immediately, but it's vitally important that policing resources are used to deal with real threats and not foolish pranks.

Security fears have heightened throughout the UK and across Europe, following a string of terror attacks in Paris that killed 130 people.

Since the attacks terrorism alerts were raised in Belgium, while German and UK football stadiums have also been on high alert.

DCI Whittaker said: "Recent events in Paris have brought into sharp focus the type and scale of threat posed by international terrorism, and the relationship between the police and the public needs to be stronger than ever before to counter this threat."

An investigation is ongoing to establish who left the item.

Police have asked people to remain vigilant and report anything that could be terrorist-related to specialist officers via the confidential Anti-Terrorist Hotline: 0800 789 321.