John William Hawke jailed for Rockhampton police station bomb hoax

An estranged father posted on social media about killing police before he turned up drunk and armed at a police station in bulky clothing and began rambling about bombs.

John William Hawke repeatedly posted on social media about killing police before he was found on January 4, 2023 outside Rockhampton Police Station, culminating in a terrifying standoff with officers.

A judge has called for a review of the maximum penalty for bomb threats as he sentenced an electrician with “an entrenched anti-police attitude” who hero-worshipped high-profile cop killers.

John William Hawke, 36, repeatedly posted on social media about killing police before he was found on January 4, 2023 outside Rockhampton Police Station, culminating in a terrifying standoff with officers while he ranted about a bomb, brandished a weapon and threatened to blow up the station.

The chilling details were revealed in Rockhampton District Court during two sentencing proceedings for Hawke, on March 11 and May 7, after Judge Jeff Clarke ordered a psychiatric assessment as part of a presentence report to give the court an idea of his risk offending and motivation.

The court heard Hawke had posted on Instagram that he wanted to recreate the Walsh Street shooting where two Victorian police officers were killed in Melbourne in 1988.

Hawke went on to post on Instagram – this time with two images – one of the officers murdered at the Wieambilla shooting in December 2022 and the other of officers killed in the Walsh St shootings.

Front page of The Sun newspaper on the police shooting in Walsh St.

Hawke captioned the post: “Let’s see if a hero who was the victim of police corruption in New South Wales can get a high score tonight”.

‘LET’S SEE IF I CAN GO OUT WITH A BANG’

Before going to the police station in 2023, Hawke posted artwork of a bomb vest with the caption: ‘I’m in Rocky. Let’s see if I can go out with a bang’.

Judge Clarke said Hawke’s appearance – wearing bulking clothing not suitable in Central Queensland summers – would have drawn immediate suspicion and concern.

“The footage from the body worn vests worn by police who attended showed that Hawke was erratic, belligerent, argumentative, loud and threatening,” he said.

Judge Clarke said Hawke conducted himself throughout the five minute-odd incident in such a drunken and aggressive way the officers “would have had grave difficulty predicting precisely what” Hawke was “up to”.

John William Hawke posted on Instagram that he wanted to recreate the Walsh Street shooting where two Victorian police officers were killed.

“The police used considerable patience and restraint and should be commended for their actions in containing what clearly must have been a terrifying situation,” he said.

After police told him he was under arrest for public nuisance and to take his hand out of his pocket, Hawke revealed a knuckleduster/knife hybrid and said “let’s go”.

Rockhampton Police Station. Pic Peter Wallis

At least one officer drew their firearm at this point and repeatedly told Hawke to put the knife down before he started talking about corrupt cops and bomb materials, mentioning “2743kg of ammonium nitrate” and bluetooth for bomb switches.

He also referenced the 1995 Oklahoma bombing of a Federal building which killed 168 people.

Hawke shuffled about while rambling to Rockhampton officers on the footpath in front of the police station.

During this time, police cordoned off the Bolsover and Denham Streets intersection, the court heard.

Hawke told the officers they were “wearing the insignia of my sworn mortal enemies” and babbled about “at the centre of the blast”, “blast radius” and something about an investigation.

“Don’t move towards me,” Hawke told the officers.

“Let’s go.”

While one of the officers was talking to him about where he had been that night and who he was talking to, another officer tasered Hawke and he was arrested.

DISTURBING CRIMINAL HISTORY

The court heard Hawke claimed his issues with police started in 2019 as his relationship with the mother of children broke down and he had not seen his children in five years.

However, Judge Clarke said Hawke’s criminal history was disturbing and showed a longstanding issue with police.

“There was a bizarre situation (in August 2013) of Hawke abandoning a car on George St in Rockhampton and going to a petrol station where he splashed fuel about and he stopped to call police because he thought people were chasing him,” Judge Clarke.

Queensland Police Service Constable Matthew Arnold was shot at Wieambilla in December 2022.

Hawke was found in possession of the same type of weapon he wielded 10 years later outside the police station – a hybrid knuckleduster flick knife.

He was also charged in November 2022 for possessing knife and contravening police requirements in Mackay.

“It would seem safe to assume that your irrational and fixated hatred or abiding dislike of police was aggravated by that arrest … because that same night, you posted to Instagram a picture of your bail undertaking and wrote the caption, ‘Here we go again. Anyone got any triple-0 buckshot?” Judge Clarke said.

Despite Judge Clarke’s explicit orders, a psychiatric report was not done, but a presentence report supplied did “confirm some considerable cause for concern”.

It stated that Hawke had limited explanation for his offending, “didn’t really justify why he had such an underlying hostility toward police” and suggested the bomb hoax incident might have been an attempt of suicide by police.

Judge Clarke said the report also confirmed Hawke has “an entrenched anti-police attitude”.

CALL FOR BOMB HOAX PENALTY INCREASE

Judge Clarke said it was time the maximum penalty for the offence was reviewed in “the current climate”.

“Times have certainly changed,” he said.

“Deterrence is required for this style of offending which serves to terrorise those who are confronted by it.

“In the current climate, it seems to me, this offence may become more prevalent.”

“In my view, the maximum penalty of five years imprisonment for bomb hoaxes would benefit from some legislative review.”

The north side of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City is shown missing after a truck bomb explosion, in this Wednesday, April 19, 1995, file photo. The Oklahoma City bombing killed 168 people. (AP Photo/File)

Judge Clarke said two officers who provided victim impact statements from this incident, who swore to protect and serve the community, “were forced with the potential fear of their own deaths and disaster and the deaths of their colleagues and having to consider the option of shooting you to ensure public safety”.

“They were faced with the unexplained vitriolic hatred for the uniform that they wear and they job they do, to try and keep the community safe,” Judge Clarke said.

“The sense of fear and dread that they face now going into unknown territory dealing with unpredictable strangers like yourself.”

‘UNPREDICTABLE STRANGERS LIKE YOURSELF’

Hawke pleaded guilty on March 11 to two counts of using a carriage service to menace, harass or cause offence; one of using a carriage service for a bomb hoax, one of assaulting a police officer while armed, one of making a false statement to police (about possessing explosive material on Bolsover Street) and one of contravening a police order about providing access to electronically stored information.

Judge Clarke sentenced him on May 7 to 3.5 years prison for the bomb hoax, suspended after serving 489 days of which Hawke served in presentence custody, with an operational period of five years.

He also sentenced him to a two-year prison term for the social media harassment posts alone with a five-year good behaviour bond with $500 recognisance and two years probation.

Originally published as John William Hawke jailed for Rockhampton police station bomb hoax