2007 Tesco blackmail campaign

The 2007 Tesco blackmail campaign was an extortion attempt against the British supermarket chain Tesco.
May threats.
In May 2007 a series of letters threatening to contaminate food in Tesco stores unless he was paid £100,000 were sent to the company's offices in Dundee. This did not succeed so the blackmailer demanded executives transfer £200,000 into his bank account or he would put caustic soda in yoghurt sold in the store.
The letters were signed "Arbuthnot, the sign is the spider" and had dead spiders taped to them. Some of them had text composed of letters cut out of a magazine and demanded that Tesco respond via an advertisement in the personal column in The Times. Tesco did not respond.
July threats.
In July seventy-six hoax bomb warnings were sent to Tesco supermarkets. They warned that bombs would go off on Saturday 14 July or "Black Saturday".
Tesco branches closed, including those in Clitheroe, Grimsby, Pontefract, Market Harborough, Ashby de la Zouch, Bury St Edmunds, Hucknall, Hereford, Ledbury and Glasgow. The closures cost Tesco £1.4m.
After the threats the letter writer wrote to Tesco executives again demanding £200 a day and an overall figure of £1m.
Investigation.
Police decided to lure the blackmailer into giving away their identity by transferring money into a bank account as demanded.
On four consecutive dates in July 2007 the suspect withdrew money from cashpoints in Blackburn, Bolton, Burnley and Carlisle. Although he concealed his face, he wore distinctive Wellington boots that helped police track him on CCTV.
Arrest.
On 23 July 2007 the suspect was arrested in his home on Milton Avenue, Clitheroe.
Suspect.
The suspect was Phil McHugh, a former tax inspector and unemployed charity worker who had gambling debts of £37,000.
Trial.
He pleaded guilty to three specimen charges of blackmail and two charges of communicating a bomb hoax.
Sentencing.
In January 2008 he was sentenced to six years imprisonment.