Asylum seeker jailed for dynamite hoax at MI5 HQ

"A Brazilian national, Julian Valente Pereira, 32, staged the protest at Thames House in Millbank on 1 January, a day after his final appeal for asylum was dismissed. Pereira was found guilty in February at City of London Magistrates' Court of placing an article with the intention of inducing another to believe the item was going to explode. Sentencing him at the Old Bailey, Judge Mark Lucraft KC said the defendant “may well” be deported from the UK."

"CCTV footage showed Pereira stuffing paperwork about his immigration case through the doors of the MI5 building, then retrieved a fake explosive from his bag which he threw on the pavement. A bomb expert was called and found the device was made from rolled-up A4 paper, brown masking tape and string. The incident coincided with a New Year's Day parade taking place in the capital."

"Prosecutor Shannon Revel said he wanted “maximum attention” on his complaints against the Home Office after his failed bid for permission to stay in Britain. Lucraft noted police concerns at the time that the fake dynamite was a “genuine explosive”, and that dealing with the incident “diverted them from other things”. The court was told the defendant, who was living in an asylum hotel in Uxbridge, west London, had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder and schizophrenia."

A Brazilian national, Julian Valente Pereira, carried out a bomb hoax outside MI5 headquarters at Thames House in Millbank on 1 January. The incident occurred after his final asylum appeal was dismissed. He was found guilty of placing an article intended to make others believe it would explode. CCTV showed him stuffing immigration paperwork through the building doors, then throwing a fake explosive onto the pavement. A bomb expert determined the device was made from rolled-up A4 paper, brown masking tape, and string. The hoax coincided with a New Year’s Day parade. He received a two and a half year jail sentence, and the judge indicated he may be deported. The court heard he had bipolar disorder and schizophrenia.

Read at www.bbc.com