GUILTY UK - Nigel Wright, 45, on trial for attempted Tesco contaminated baby food extortion, 2018-20

[Legally Bland]

A sheep farmer allegedly tried to extort cryptocurrency from Tesco in exchange for revealing in which of its stores he had planted jars of baby food laced with metal, a court has heard.

Nigel Wright, 45, from Market Rasen, Lincolnshire, is accused of bombarding the supermarket chain with letters and emails in the name of “Guy Brush” between May 2018 and February 2020.

Wright allegedly claimed the contaminated food had been planted in numerous stores and that he would only reveal where once more than £1m in bitcoin had been paid to him.

He denies two counts of contaminating goods and four counts of blackmail.

On the first day of his trial at the Old Bailey on Tuesday, the jury heard Wright had initially demanded 100 bitcoin from Tesco.

He claimed to be part of a cohort of disgruntled dairy farmers calling themselves “Guy Brush and the Dairy Pirates” who believed they had been underpaid by Tesco.

This sum later rose to 200 bitcoin, worth around £1.4m in February 2020.

Farmer accused of trying to extort £1.4m from Tesco by contaminating baby food

 

[Legally Bland]

Prosecutor Julian Christopher QC told the jury: “The prosecution allege that over a period of two years from spring 2018, the defendant hoped to make himself rich by means of blackmail.”

In November and December 2019, two customers found slivers of metal in jars of baby food as they fed them to their children.

The first jar was bought in Rochdale, while the second was bought in Lockerbie.

He also claimed the salmonella and chemicals had been injected into cans from other brands, and threatened to continue poisoning Tesco products if payment was not made, it is said.

A draft of messages sent to Tesco was found on Wright’s laptop and photos of tins of food and jars of baby food and slivers of metal.

There is no evidence that any other products other than the two jars of metal-spiked baby food discovered were actually contaminated, the Old Bailey heard.

Farmer accused of bid to extort £1.4m from Tesco by contaminating baby food

 

[Legally Bland]

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.

Wright allegedly tracked him down and sent him a letter including a picture of the complainant and his wife with bullet holes and a target superimposed on it, the court heard.

He was eventually traced to his family home on a farm outside of Market Rasen where he lived with his wife and two children and their flock of sheep.

Wright admits carrying out various elements of the campaign but claims he was forced to do so by travellers who had come to his land and demanded he give them £1 million.

He claims the group of men threatened to rape his wife and kill him and his children and that he was acting in fear of his life.

Wright denies planting the shards of metal in the baby food found in the Rochdale branch of Tesco.

Farmer accused of bid to extort £1.4m from Tesco by contaminating baby food - Evening Express

 

[Legally Bland]

A mother “felt sick” when she realised she had been millimetres away from feeding her 10-month-old son a craft knife blade allegedly planted in a jar of baby food, a court has heard.

[...]

Morven Smith, from Lockerbie, had already fed a few spoonfuls of Heinz sweet and sour chicken to her baby when she spotted the shard of metal in the bowl in December 2019.

In a statement, Mrs Smith said she had microwaved half of the jar of baby food in a bowl and put the rest of the jar back in the fridge.

“I took the bowl out of the microwave – I gave my son a couple of spoonfuls and noticed something shiny – I pulled it out with my fingers at that point.


“It was horrendous. I felt sick I was so shocked.”

Mrs Smith said her husband found a second blade stuck at the bottom of the jar.

She said at first she had only planned to contact Heinz and Tesco, saying: “I didn’t think someone might have done this on purpose.”

It was only when she was wrapping the jar and the blades in a freezer bag that she noticed someone had drawn a circle with a cross through it on the bottom of the product.

“I felt sick when I first saw this,” she said.

“I knew at this point the jar had been marked and someone had done it on purpose.”

Mother ‘felt sick’ after finding craft knife blade in baby food jar, court told

 

[Ironside]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/amp/uk-england-lincolnshire-53783208

He’s doing the time honoured “bad boy did it and ran away” defence. I’m not very convinced of his innocence.

It sounds like he was tracked down for the road rage blackmail thing which led police to discover the Tesco evidence.

 

[Ironside]

I’ve had more thoughts about this case. Why on earth would travellers order him to do things that would take a very long time? Stealing £500,00 worth of cows would be approx 500 cows - that would not be an instant windfall. You’d them have to sell all the cows unnoticed. I’m sure most career criminals would be well aware obtaining such a volume of cows would be very risky.

Blackmailing a supermarket isn’t exactly instant either. I sincerely doubt travellers would stick around patiently waiting for these long term schemes to bear fruit. I think it’s absolutely disgusting that he is blaming the travelling community and I hope that gets taken into account if he is found guilty.

I also wonder what on earth he was planning to do with all the bitcoin had he got it. Most Crypto currency trading websites have limits on how much you can sell and withdraw per day so I doubt he’d instantly be able to get all the money. He may eventually have been able to trade it all but it would be very, very time consuming indeed. Banks would also flag large deposits into accounts so his windfall would likely have been noticed. What an absolute idiot!

 

[Ironside]

https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/blackmail-accused-planted-spiked-baby-22535610.amp

This just gets better. He claimed a BMW followed him to Lockerbie but police couldn’t find any evidence of it on camera.

I hope someone makes a tv drama out of this case as it’s incredibly bizarre. I do feel quite sorry for his family this must be mortifying for them.

 

[Ironside]

He’s been found guilty. Good.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/amp/uk-england-lincolnshire-53849726

 

[Ironside]

https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/uk-news/farmer-nigel-wright-guilty-lacing-18799663.amp

“One draft of a letter to Tesco found on the device read: "Imagine a baby's mouth cut open and blood pouring out, or the inside of their bellies cut and bleeding.“

What a disgusting thing to write.

 

[Legally Bland]

He’s been found guilty. Good.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/amp/uk-england-lincolnshire-53849726

Good indeed.

 

[Legally Bland]

A farmer who put pieces of metal into baby food in an attempt to blackmail Tesco has been jailed for 14 years.

Nigel Wright, 45, of Market Rasen, Lincolnshire, tried to extort £1.4m from the supermarket chain between May 2018 and February 2020.

[...]

The judge, Mr Justice Warby, had asked for a psychiatric report to be prepared ahead of sentencing, saying he appeared to be "mentally disordered".

Tesco blackmail plot: Nigel Wright jailed for 14 years

 

[Ironside]

A fair sentence.

 

[LadyL]

14 or less years and this creep will be back in society
he should've been charged with attempted murder, not just blackmail and contaminating goods
had any baby ended up with a blade in their mouth or throat or tummy, it could easily have been fatal