A cleaner at the University of Kent is accused of sparking three evacuations after leaving fake bombs on campus.

Vanessa Relton, 40, is alleged to have left a carrier bag with wires protruding from it in the Templeman Library, along with a plastic bottle filled with fluid and wires.

The discovery of the suspicious packages at 10.45am on December 1 caused staff to evacuate the library and call police to the Canterbury campus.

The following day Relton is accused of twice making bomb hoax calls to the university, warning that she had left explosives on the site.

Acting on the information, staff again evacuated the library and called in emergency crews.

Relton, of Cromwell Road, Whitstable, is also alleged to have made a bomb hoax call to the university 10 weeks previous, on September 23.

She appeared in court today facing three counts of communicating false information and two charges of placing an article with intent.

She withheld her plea and the case was sent to Canterbury Crown Court, where it will be heard next month.

Magistrates granted Relton bail on the condition she does not enter or go to any University of Kent building.