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Jail for Tesco blackmail plotter Jail for Tesco blackmail plotter
(10 minutes later)
A former tax inspector has been jailed for six years for a £1m blackmail plot against Tesco.A former tax inspector has been jailed for six years for a £1m blackmail plot against Tesco.
Philip McHugh, 52, from Clitheroe, Lancashire, demanded £500,000 from the supermarket giant twice last year.Philip McHugh, 52, from Clitheroe, Lancashire, demanded £500,000 from the supermarket giant twice last year.
He sent 76 letters threatening to bomb stores and to contaminate Tesco products if the company refused to comply with his demand for money.He sent 76 letters threatening to bomb stores and to contaminate Tesco products if the company refused to comply with his demand for money.
His threats resulted in 14 Tesco stores across the UK closing last July as a security precaution.His threats resulted in 14 Tesco stores across the UK closing last July as a security precaution.
The judge at St Albans Crown Court said McHugh was guilty of a sustained and serious effort to extort money from the chain.The judge at St Albans Crown Court said McHugh was guilty of a sustained and serious effort to extort money from the chain.
He pleaded guilty last year to three sample charges of blackmail and two of communicating a bomb hoax targeting the retailer.He pleaded guilty last year to three sample charges of blackmail and two of communicating a bomb hoax targeting the retailer.
As part of his bomb-threat campaign, Tesco stores were evacuated and temporarily closed in Glamorgan, Fife, Strathclyde, Lancashire, Suffolk, Leicestershire, Humberside, Herefordshire, West Yorkshire, Nottinghamshire and London. The campaign started last May when McHugh sent a series of letters to Tesco offices in Dundee, threatening to contaminate food unless he was paid £100,000.
When this failed McHugh, who was addicted to online gambling and had debts of £37,000, sent a series of increasingly threatening letters to Tesco's headquarters in Hertfordshire.
He said he would put caustic soda in yogurt sold in the store if Tesco didn't transfer £200,000 into his bank account.
When this also failed, he sent hoax bomb warnings to 76 Tesco supermarkets, warning bombs would go off in the stores on 14 July, what he called "Black Saturday".
On this date Tesco stores were evacuated and temporarily closed in Glamorgan, Kirkcaldy in Fife, Strathclyde, Lancashire, Suffolk, Leicestershire, Humberside, Herefordshire, West Yorkshire, Nottinghamshire and London.
The closures cost the chain an estimated £1.4 million in lost revenue.