Search Site   
Current News Stories
Family farm turns from tradional to producing smiles from visitors
Indiana proclaims Antique Tractor Preservation Day on July 31
Kentucky high school seniors attend Institute for Future Agricultural Leaders
Michigan farmer, author inspires ag-literate kids
Farm injury prevention and treatment topic of web series
Experts offer tips on how to resolve issue of mucky, aging farm ponds
Indiana farmer dies after becoming overcome by smoke in grain bin
Ladage gains writing insight from tractors, people, small towns
Trump extends waiver for foreign ships to transport goods to US
Tennessee communities offered financial assistance to expand tree canopies
The export of Mexican avocados to the US stopped
   
News Articles
Search News  
   
Contaminated baby
food leads to arrest of UK sheep farmer 
 
LONDON (AP) – A sheep farmer has been sentenced to 14 years in prison for his plot to use baby food laced with metal shards to blackmail one of Britain’s biggest supermarket chains.
Nigel Wright planted jars of the contaminated baby food in Tesco grocery stores and sent dozens of letters and emails to the supermarket company in a bid to extort 1.4 million pounds ($1.8 million) in bitcoin from 2018 and February.
Tesco had to issue a product recall after two mothers reported discovering pieces of metal in jars of Heinz baby food. No babies were harmed but in all, 42,000 jars of Heinz baby food were recovered.
Wright, 45, was accused of orchestrating the plot, allegedly in the name of a group of farmers angry at the low price they were paid for their milk. He denied the charges, but was convicted of two counts of contaminating goods and three counts of blackmail. Sentencing him, Justice Mark Warby compared Wright’s actions to terrorism and said he was remorseless.
“You chose to use threats of a particularly blood-curdling nature, deliberately designed to exploit the vulnerability of children, and the consequent vulnerability of a supermarket concerned for its business,” the judge said.
10/27/2020