Six years for blackmailer with grudge against Tesco

Jan 29 2008 by Neil Atkinson, Huddersfield Daily Examiner

A FORMER tax inspector has been jailed for six years for a £1m blackmail plot against supermarket chain Tesco that closed stores in Yorkshire.

Philip McHugh, of Clitheroe, Lancashire, sent 76 letters threatening to bomb Tesco stores across Britain last summer.

The 52-year-old also threatened to contaminate Tesco products if they refused to comply with his demand for money.

The judge at St Albans Crown Court said McHugh was guilty of a sustained and serious effort to extort money from the chain.

McHugh, who was addicted to online gambling and had debts of £37,000, began his campaign last May with a series of letters to Tesco offices in Dundee.

McHugh sent hoax bomb warnings to 76 Tesco supermarkets, warning of what he called “Black Saturday”.

He said bombs would go off at the stores on Saturday July 14.

As a result, 14 Tesco superstores including branches in East and West Yorkshire were closed, costing the supermarket chain an estimated £1.4m in lost revenue.

After the bomb hoaxes, McHugh wrote to the executives of the supermarket chain demanding £200 a day and an overall figure of £1m.

Passing sentence, Judge Marie Catterson said: “Stores such as Tesco which supply the public with essential everyday goods must be protected by the law.”