Letter bomber who hated surveillance society jailed for at least five years

A school caretaker with a hatred of the surveillance soceity was jailed for at least five years after carrying out a nationwide letter bomb campaign which injured eight people.

Miles Cooper, 27, from Cambridge, was told at Oxford Crown Court he would have to serve an indeterminate sentence of at least five years before being considered for parole

He was found guilty by a jury yesterday of 11 charges relating to explosive devices he sent to offices in London, Berkshire, Oxfordshire, Kent, Birmingham and Swansea in January and February.

People who opened Cooper's padded envelopes were showered in glass fragments or nails, his four-day trial heard. Cooper said he sent the seven letters, five of which exploded, in protest at Britain's "authoritarian" Government.

During the week-long trial Cooper said he sent the seven letters, five of which exploded, in protest at Britain's "authoritarian" Government.

He said he resorted to violent means as his peaceful protests against measures imposed by Tony Blair's administration had failed.

He told the court: "The overall goal was to shut down certain departments in certain buildings and ultimately to highlight my cause."

Cooper said in evidence that his anger at the authorities intensified when his father, Clive, was unable to get DNA samples removed from the police database after he was cleared in 2003 of assault.

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"I felt my father had been used and I felt unable to do anything about it," he said. It was then that he began making and sending bombs.

Before this, Cooper had campaigned against the Labour Government's proposals to introduce ID cards. But after the episode with his father, his approach changed.

He said of the Government: "If you give a small group of people too much power, they will eventually end up abusing it.

"Based on what I learned at school and learned from history books, an authoritarian state eventually develops, and free speech is stifled."

Of Britain's "surveillance society", he said: "We are one of the most watched societies on the planet."

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Cooper accepted the recipients of his letters were likely to suffer cuts and bruises when opening the packages but he said he intended no serious harm.

"The overall goal was to shut down certain departments in certain buildings and ultimately to highlight my cause," he said.

The devices caused widespread alarm. Michelle Evans, receptionist for Orchid Cellmark in Culham, was pregnant when she opened the first letter, which exploded, causing a small fragment to enter her thumb.

The same day, LGC Forensics in Abingdon, Oxfordshire, and the Forensic Science Service in Birmingham received similar devices.

All three made references to animal rights - designed to confuse police, according to Cooper.

He denied eight counts of causing bodily injury by means of an explosive substance, two counts of using an explosive substance with intent to disable, one count of making explosives and one alternative count of possessing an explosive substance.

He did not deny sending the letters to three forensic science laboratories, a computer company, an accountancy firm, the DVLA and a residential address, but did deny intending to cause any injury.

A fourth device was addressed to Alpha Security at the home address of the company boss in Kent.

A fifth was received at Capita's London office, from which the congestion charge is run, days later on February 5.

A sixth arrived at Vantis, an administrator of speed cameras, on February 6, the court heard. The final device arrived at the DVLA in Swansea later that week.

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