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Farmer 'blackmailed Tesco over contaminated baby food' Farmer 'blackmailed Tesco over contaminated baby food'
(about 5 hours later)
A sheep farmer said jars of baby food laced with metal were in Tesco stores in a blackmail plot, a court heard. Two mothers came close to feeding their babies food laced with metal fragments after a sheep farmer tried to blackmail Tesco, a court heard.
Nigel Wright is accused of sending letters and emails, signed "Guy Brush", to the supermarket giant. They found the metal in the jars of Heinz food, after Nigel Wright allegedly contaminated them in a £1.4m bitcoin plot, the Old Bailey was told.
Mr Wright posed as a disgruntled dairy farmer who had been underpaid by Tesco and demanded 100 bitcoin, worth about £700,000 at the time, a jury at the Old Bailey was told. Mr Wright, 45 and of Lincolnshire, claimed he was a dairy farmer underpaid by Tesco, the jury heard.
He denies two counts of contaminating goods and four counts of blackmail. He denies two counts of contaminating goods and three counts of blackmail.
Mr Wright, 45, from Market Rasen, Lincolnshire, tried to extort the cryptocurrency between May 2018 and February this year for revealing which stores he had planted the jars in, prosecutors said. Mr Wright, from Market Rasen, told Tesco he would reveal which stores he had planted the contaminated jars in, between May 2018 and February 2020, if they paid him in bitcoin, prosecutors said.
This sum demanded rose to 200 bitcoin, worth about £1.4 million in February, the court heard. He claimed to be one of a number of dairy farmers calling themselves "Guy Brush and the Dairy Pirates" who believed they had been underpaid, they said.
He claimed to be part of a group of dairy farmers calling themselves "Guy Brush and the Dairy Pirates" who believed they had been underpaid by Tesco. The court heard Morven Smith was feeding her 10-month-old son a jar of Heinz sweet and sour chicken baby food in December 2019 when she noticed the shards of a craft knife blade.
Tesco then issued a national recall of all jars of the product, prompting Harpeet Kaur Singh to say she too had discovered fragments of metal when she was feeding her nine-month-old daughter.
Prosecutor Julian Christopher QC told the jury: "The defendant hoped to make himself rich by means of blackmail."Prosecutor Julian Christopher QC told the jury: "The defendant hoped to make himself rich by means of blackmail."
Two customers had found slivers of metal in baby food jars as they fed their children in November and December 2019. The two customers had found the slivers of metal in November and December 2019, in Rochdale and Lockerbie.
One jar was bought in Rochdale, the other in Lockerbie.
There is no evidence any other products were actually contaminated, the court was told.
Wright also claimed salmonella and chemicals had been injected into cans and threatened to continue poisoning Tesco products if payment was not made, Mr Christopher said.
'Forced by travellers''Forced by travellers'
A draft of messages sent to Tesco was found on his laptop along with photos of food tins, jars of baby food and slivers of metal, the court heard There is no evidence any other products were actually contaminated, the court was told.
In one of the counts of blackmail, Wright allegedly threatened to kill a driver with whom he had had a road rage altercation unless he paid him bitcoin worth £150,000. Mr Wright also claimed salmonella and chemicals had been injected into cans and threatened to continue poisoning Tesco products if payment was not made, Mr Christopher said.
In a separate charge of blackmail he is accused of demanding £150,000 worth of bitcoin from a driver with whom he had had a road rage altercation.
A draft of messages sent to Tesco was found on his laptop along with photos of food tins, jars of baby food and slivers of metal, the court heard.
Mr Wright admits various elements of the campaign but claims he was forced to do so by travellers who had demanded he give them £1m and he was acting in fear of his life.Mr Wright admits various elements of the campaign but claims he was forced to do so by travellers who had demanded he give them £1m and he was acting in fear of his life.
Mr Christopher told the jury it would have to determine whether the story of being threatened by travellers was true.
The trial continues.The trial continues.
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