A paedophile former University of Cambridge research fellow who sent ex-prime minister Theresa May a hoax package containing a white powder, intended to appear as poison, has been jailed.
On April 5th, 2018, staff at a postal sorting office in East London alerted police after handling a suspicious package addressed to “Theresa May, c/o The Nazi Party”. It was found to contain a graphic cartoon of the decapitated prime minister, as well as white powder later found to be harmless.
The incident occurred just one month after the poisoning of former Russian spy and double agent for the British, Sergei Skripal, and his daughter Yulia with the nerve agent Novichok. A policeman was also taken ill after coming into contact with the stricken pair as they sat on a bench in Salisbury city centre. Then-Prime Minister May had said that it was highly likely that Russian President Vladimir Putin was behind the attack on British soil.
The package also included a picture of Russian ex-spy Alexander Litvinenko, according to the BBC. Litvinenko had been poisoned with radioactive polonium 210 in London in 2006. The attack was suspected of having been at the behest of Putin.
Following an investigation by the Metropolitan Police Force’s Counter-Terrorism Command, detectives arrested 54-year-old Christopher Doyle at his home in Widnes, Cheshire, on May 24th, 2018, according to a statement by Scotland Yard.
When police raided his home, they found nearly a quarter of a million indecent images of children.
He had told police that he had written one letter to then-Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, criticising him for attacking Russia for the Skripal poisoning, and another to former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, praising him.
Judge Anil Murray said at Liverpool Crown Court during sentencing on Thursday: “Sergei Skripal had been poisoned just about a month before this letter was opened and so the issue of poisoning was high in the nation’s consciousness.
“This was a serious offence intended by you to induce fear of danger to human life.”
The scientist, who has a PhD in neuroscience, had been a research fellow at Cambridge University before experiencing a decline in mental health that resulted in him becoming a shut-in and immersing himself in pro-Russia Facebook groups, according to his defence lawyer.
Doyle also said that he had worked at Porton Down, five miles outside of Salisbury, which is the British government’s top-secret laboratory that researches chemical weapons and deadly infections like Ebola, the plague, and anthrax.
The 54-year-old was sentenced to 30 months in prison for the threatening package, but a mere four months for the more than 245,000 child porn images.
He has also been placed on the Sex Offenders’ Register for seven years and has been given a Sexual Harm Prevention Order for seven years. The order will remain on his record for the rest of his life, and for seven years he is required to tell employers that he is on the Sex Offenders’ Register. After his brief stint in prison, he must register with the police and inform them of any changes of address, name, or if he plans to travel outside of the United Kingdom.
While he admitted to the indecent images, Doyle had claimed that he did not send the hoax poison, alleging that MI5 or MI6 had set him up.
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