Mark Gobell
On Gardening Leave
Joined: 24 Jul 2006
Posts: 4529
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 Posted: Thu Oct 09, 2008 6:23 pm Post subject: Local Shocker: Al Qaeda only making plans for Nigel . . . |
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They only want what's best for him . . .
I felt compelled to share this local news item.
An important reminder that the War on Terror, Radicalisation, RFID and Skunk make for a rather heady mix, for some.
Awful traffic day it was . . .
Enjoy.
| The Hertfordshire Mercury wrote: | 'Al Quaeda groomed me' says driver'
HOSTAGE TAKER: Nigel Harper
By Court Reporter
AN armed man who took five women hostage because he thought he was being groomed to become an Al Quaeda suicide bomber was jailed for four years yesterday (Tuesday October 7).
Courier driver Nigel Harper, 45, held the delusional belief that his employers had been infiltrated by terrorists when he turned up at a Stanstead Abbotts clothing company with a gun, St Albans Crown Court heard.
Harper wanted to be arrested so he could tell the police about his terrorist fears while making sure his wife was protected.
On April 30 he visited the office of Hertford woman Joanne Stradling, who works at The Maltings, because he wanted to confide in her police officer husband.
Miles Trigg, defending, said: "He believed somehow he was going to deliver bombs."
Harper, of Luton, Beds, told his hostages that something "big" was going to happen on May 2 and at one point he demanded a change of clothes because he believed his own clothes were bugged.
The court was told that Harper had been cheerful and friendly when he delivered to companies at The Maltings over a 12-month period.
But at the time of the siege in which police sealed off the entire village for several hours, Harper was suffering a mental breakdown brought on by crippling debts and exhaustion. He was also a regular cannabis user.
Harper turned up in Stanstead Abbotts with an imitation pistol that looked convincingly real and two knives, the court heard.
He took out his weapons at the premises of sports and leisure clothing company Team Colours.
Prosecutor David Chrimes said: "He asked for armed police and he asked they be armed to the teeth."
Harper pleaded guilty to false imprisonment, possessing an imitation firearm and possessing two knives.
Judge Marie Catterson jailed Harper for four years, telling him that despite his mental condition at the time he had clearly known what he was doing was against the law. |
Clearly.
No doubt this case will be used at some future date by The Ministry of Justice to prove that Al Q's global reach, extends to erm White Van Man !
Source
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The Medium is the Massage - Marshall McLuhan. |
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