Court told accused blames blackmail plot on death threats from travellers
BY CHRIS DYER
A FARMER launched a blackmail campaign against Tesco by putting shards of metal into jars of baby food and placing them in a Scots store, a court heard yesterday.
Nigel Wright, 45, also sent letters threatening to inject salmonella into tins of food, the court was told.
The farmer is accused of demanding about £1.5million in Bitcoin by sending letters to the supermarket giant in order for him to reveal what goods had been contaminated.
Wright, of Market Rasen, Lincolnshire, is alleged to have placed bits of metal in jars of baby food and put them on shelves of stores in Lockerbie in Dumfriesshire and Rochdale, near Manchester.
Two mums later discovered tiny metal objects in baby food they were about to give to their children, the court heard.
Wright is also accused of threatening a motorist, John Winter, who he had an altercation with, again demanding Bitcoin or he would kill members of his family, the court heard.
JULIAN CHRISTOPHER QC PROSECUTOR
He is charged with four counts of blackmail and two of contaminating food “with menaces” between May 2018 and February this year.
Wright denies the allegations and claims a gang of travellers forced him to carry out the crimes by threatening his own family if he did not pay them about £1million.
Under the name “Guy Brush”, Wright launched a blackmail campaign by sending letters through the post to several different Tesco stores, the Old Bailey heard.
He pretended he was acting with other people, whom he referred to as “the Dairy Pirates”, and later also claimed to have been joined by someone he referred to as “Tinkerbell”, the prosecution alleged.
Wright sent emails claiming that contaminated food had been put on the shelves of numerous Tesco stores, demanding to release the details of the