A MAN has denied making a hoax phone call to police claiming there was a bomb in Oxford on New Year's Eve.

Damien Stankiewicz appeared at Oxford Crown Court yesterday where he pleaded not guilty to making the hoax call to Thames Valley Police on December 31 last year.

The case had previously been delayed because police were searching for "critical" voice recognition evidence, which has now been served.

Alistair Grainger, defending, asked for 10 weeks for his team to prepare their own voice recognition expert report before the trial.

Stankiewicz, of Liverpool Road, Reading, was remanded in custody to return to the same court for trial on Wednesday, October 5.