Parcel full of spices sparks terror alert at Wolverhampton City Council
A man who sparked a bomb scare by sending a strange-smelling package to a council office after bombarding its staff with threatening letters has been spared jail.
The padded package was taken from the Wolverhampton City Council mail room to an outdoor car park that had to be evacuated as police were called to inspect the contents. It was later found to contain harmless curry powder and spices, a court heard.
Narval Johnson insisted it was sent as a 'joke' but had been convicted after a trial of sending a threatening letter for the purpose of causing distress or anxiety.
The 62-year-old has been bailed for the preparation of pre sentence reports.
Mr Roger Bleazard, prosecuting, told Wolverhampton Magistrates Court: "The handwriting on the package matched that of the person who had sent the threatening letters.
"This, coupled with its unusual smell, caused concern and distress. The explosive Semtex has a strange smell.
"If this had happened at a university during Rag Week without any background it might have been treated differently but this was at a council on alert because of terrorist concerns."
Johnson, from Farndale Avenue, Whitmore Reans, who worked for Goodyear for 27 years and was of previous good character, sent 24 threatening letters to the local authority in the two months before the offence on June 14, the court was told.
Several of them were addressed to 'Satan people' and had the number 666 written on them.
Mrs Bally Paul, defending, said: "There was no report to the police about these letters until after the package had been received.
"He sent it out as an insult and then things got out of control. He has now tarnished his good name."
Johnson was given a 12-week prison term suspended for two years and told by magistrates chairman Mr Stephen Russell: "This is a very serious offence.
"The mere fact that you did this with innocuous material does not mitigate that fact. The people in the post room who received it were upset and potentially afraid.
"If you stay out of trouble nothing else will happen to you but if you do anything criminal again within the two years of the order you will almost certainly be sent to prison."
