A 53-year-old woman has appeared in court charged with making a hoax bomb threat to a hotel in Newtownabbey that housed asylum seekers.

Joanne Mitchell, of Greenview Avenue in Antrim town, is accused of communicating information she knew to be false on Friday June 12, namely that a bomb was liable to explode at the Chimney Corner Hotel. She is also charged with breaching an Anti-Social Behaviour Order by causing harassment, alarm and distress while in possession of an internet-enabled phone.

At Antrim Magistrates Court, sitting in Ballymena, on Tuesday, Ms Mitchell was on continuing bail and her case was adjourned to October 27 for a preliminary enquiry, a legal step that could send the case to the Crown Court. She has previously denied the charges.

During an earlier hearing, a police officer told the court that around 1pm on June 12 an anonymous phone call was made to the hotel in which a female said a bomb would be placed there and all residents must be evacuated within 24 hours. The officer said the defendant had been linked to the call.

Analysis showed the call was made from the Cloughmills area on a phone that was later found at the defendant's home. When police rang the number used for the hoax call while at the property, a mobile phone in the house rang.

The officer also said there had been public disorder with racial undertones in parts of Northern Ireland. Anti-immigration protesters, including masked men, attempted to march to the Chimney Corner Hotel, which is used to house asylum seekers, on Wednesday June 10. A heavy police presence stopped the protesters and pushed them back, and police concern was that the hotel would be burned or harm caused to residents or staff.

After the bomb threat call, the company in charge of security at the hotel increased security by deploying additional officers.

The defendant has 108 previous convictions, including seven for bomb hoaxes, according to information provided to the court.