Breaking Bad dad mixed chemicals in shed and sold them to terrorists
A CHeMiST who sold dangerous substances to terrorists from a home laboratory in his garden shed is facing jail.
Gert Meyers, 55, accused the police of going ‘over-the-top’ by evacuating the neighbourhood when they swooped on his house.
He claimed he was a harmless ‘hobby chemist’ and was only in trouble because of fears about islamic State.
The father-of-one is a trained chemist who ran a business from his home in Bridlington, east Yorkshire, importing and exporting chemicals. He also admitted doing experiments by mixing chemicals in old Tango drink bottles.
The case has echoes of the hit US TV series Breaking Bad about a chemistry teacher with terminal cancer who uses his expertise to make drugs for cash.
Meyers, who now says he wants to be a science teacher after ill health forced him out of business, was known to police because he had previously legally sold sub- stances to two people who were prosecuted for terrorism offences.
He was suspected of supplying materials for use in a bombing and a murder but was never charged with any offence, Beverly Magistrates’ Court was told.
When new legislation was later passed, he was twice advised by police that he needed a licence to keep specific chemicals. Then last August officers, supported by an Army bomb disposal team, raided his mid-terrace family home, evacuating 40 houses and setting up a 200 yard cordon as a precaution. District Judge Fred Rutherford said the operation cost taxpayers £36,000. Meyers, a Belgian who moved to the UK 25 years ago, pleaded guilty to breaching the Poisons Act. He admitted possess- ing quantities of nitric acid, hydrogen peroxide, potassium perchlorate and potassium chlorate without a Home Office licence.
The district judge sent the case to Hull Crown Court after deciding he had insufficient powers to sentence the defendant. Meyers will appear there on April 27.
After the case, Detective Chief Superintendent Matt Hutchinson said Meyers had behaved irresponsibly and now faced a possible jail sentence for keeping ‘volatile substances’ at his home.
But yesterday Meyers said he was a danger to no one and should not be blamed for what others do with chemicals he sells legally.
Meyers, who is married to Julie, 57, a nurse, and has a daughter ellie, 22, said he imported chemicals in bulk from the Czech Repub- lic and rebottled them to sell in smaller quantities. He said he was warned about his activities three years ago after selling aluminium powder to a terror suspect in Birmingham who ended up shooting dead a Muslim man.
He said: ‘i sold to him in good faith. if i ran a hardware shop i wouldn’t ask every customer what they wanted a knife for.’
Commenting on his failure to get a licence, he said: ‘i forgot about the warning and i was ill anyway. i’m not great with paperwork.’
He added: ‘My daughter watched Breaking Bad and tells me i could make a lot of money doing stuff like that. But i don’t want to get into trouble. now i could get two years in jail. i’m being punished as one of many hobby chemists for the acts of a few terrorists.’