Tue 03 September 2019:
A white supremacist who sent the Queen fake anthrax with a note saying “The Clowns R coming 4 you” has been jailed.
David Parnham, 36, who called himself “Muslim Slayer”, was sentenced to 12 years and six months to be served in hospital until he is well enough to be transferred to prison.
The IT systems analyst wrote to prominent figures including the Queen and former prime ministers Theresa May and David Cameron as part of a two-year hate campaign.
He tried to cause further alarm by posting white powder in the hope it would be mistaken for anthrax, the Old Bailey heard.
When the Queen was sent an envelope containing the substance, a chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear (CBRN) response was launched.
Members of the royal household became “anxious for their health” and the safety of colleagues, and were kept separate from other staff, the court heard.
The charges included encouraging murder, making hoaxes involving noxious substances and bombs, sending letters with intent to cause distress, and encouraging offences.
Judge Anthony Leonard QC said Parnham had been suffering from an autistic spectrum disorder but rejected any suggestion he was psychotic at the time of the offences.
Issuing his sentence, Judge Leonard said: “You have yet to appreciate the seriousness of what you have done and seem to want to return to the community at the earliest opportunity to live with your parents.”
Parnham’s failure to appreciate the harm he caused to the Muslim and wider community meant the risk of reoffending was greater, the judge added.
The court heard that Parnham’s activities first came to the attention of authorities in July 2016 when seven letters were intercepted at a Sheffield mail centre and found to contain harmless white powder.
A further 11 letters were identified as having been delivered.
A letter to Mr Cameron contained the wording “Allah is great”, while letters to MPs and mosques contained the wording “Paki Filth”.
In October 2016, he sent more letters with the Queen and Mrs May as their intended recipients. These contained white powder read “The Clowns R coming 4 you”.
In December that year, Parnham sent a fan letter to Dylann Roof, the white supremacist gunman responsible for killing nine black church goers in Charleston, South Carolina.
He told Roof: “I just wanted to thank you for opening my eyes. Ever since you carried out what I’d call the ‘cleansing’ I’ve felt differently about what you’d call ‘racial awareness’.”
Think your friends would be interested? Share this story!
