A British man went on trial on Monday accused of sending miniature bottles of vodka contaminated with caustic soda to public figures as part of a campaign hatched by pro-independence Scottish "terrorists."
Wayne Cook, 45, also threatened to kill English people "with no hesitation or compunction" by poisoning the country's water supply, Manchester Crown Court in northwest England was told.
The unemployed father of three, who was arrested in May last year, denies two charges under the Anti-Terrorism, Crime and Security Act 2001 of using "noxious substances or things to cause harm and intimidate."
Prosecutor Paul Taylor told the jury there was enough caustic soda in the bottles to kill if the recipients had drunk the substance.
A package sent to a municipal councilor in northwest England was intercepted by suspicious postal workers, but another to a Scottish journalist got through, he said.
A letter accompanying the package -- signed SNLA (Scottish National Liberation Army) -- explained that "we want to demonstrate our intent to kill English people at random and with no discrimination or compunction."
"This is necessary to convince the British government that we will lethally poison England's water supplies, if they do not withdraw totally from Scotland," it said.
The SNLA "are a terrorist organization. You can gauge their agenda from the letter -- total withdrawal from Scotland by the British government," Taylor said.
"The objective was to be achieved not by democratic means but by threats of mass murder. That's what terrorism is all about," Taylor said.
The court heard that another man who lived at the same block of flats as Cook in Tyldesley, Greater Manchester, pleaded guilty to the same charges at an earlier hearing.
Prosecutors allege the pair hatched the plot together.
People with missing teeth might be able to grow new ones, said Japanese dentists, who are testing a pioneering drug they hope will offer an alternative to dentures and implants. Unlike reptiles and fish, which usually replace their fangs on a regular basis, it is widely accepted that humans and most other mammals only grow two sets of teeth. However, hidden underneath our gums are the dormant buds of a third generation, said Katsu Takahashi, head of oral surgery at the Medical Research Institute Kitano Hospital in Osaka, Japan. His team launched clinical trials at Kyoto University Hospital in October, administering an experimental
‘GOOD POLITICS’: He is a ‘pragmatic radical’ and has moderated his rhetoric since the height of his radicalism in 2014, a lecturer in contemporary Islam said Abu Mohammed al-Jolani is the leader of the Islamist alliance that spearheaded an offensive that rebels say brought down Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and ended five decades of Baath Party rule in Syria. Al-Jolani heads Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), which is rooted in Syria’s branch of al-Qaeda. He is a former extremist who adopted a more moderate posture in order to achieve his goals. Yesterday, as the rebels entered Damascus, he ordered all military forces in the capital not to approach public institutions. Last week, he said the objective of his offensive, which saw city after city fall from government control, was to
IVY LEAGUE GRADUATE: Suspect Luigi Nicholas Mangione, whose grandfather was a self-made real-estate developer and philanthropist, had a life of privilege The man charged with murder in the killing of the CEO of UnitedHealthcare made it clear he was not going to make things easy on authorities, shouting unintelligibly and writhing in the grip of sheriff’s deputies as he was led into court and then objecting to being brought to New York to face trial. The displays of resistance on Tuesday were not expected to significantly delay legal proceedings for Luigi Nicholas Mangione, who was charged in last week’s Manhattan killing of Brian Thompson, the leader of the US’ largest medical insurance company. Little new information has come out about motivation,
‘MONSTROUS CRIME’: The killings were overseen by a powerful gang leader who was convinced his son’s illness was caused by voodoo practitioners, a civil organization said Nearly 200 people in Haiti were killed in brutal weekend violence reportedly orchestrated against voodoo practitioners, with the government on Monday condemning a massacre of “unbearable cruelty.” The killings in the capital, Port-au-Prince, were overseen by a powerful gang leader convinced that his son’s illness was caused by followers of the religion, the civil organization the Committee for Peace and Development (CPD) said. It was the latest act of extreme violence by powerful gangs that control most of the capital in the impoverished Caribbean country mired for decades in political instability, natural disasters and other woes. “He decided to cruelly punish all
RSS