Bomb hoaxer claimed Queen could be targeted with Russian warhead in terror plot
A BARRISTER claimed that a warhead stolen from a sunken Russian submarine by a sinister underground German organisation was smuggled into London as part of a terror plot against the Queen, a court heard today.
Michael Shrimpton has been accused of knowingly making two hoax bomb calls in April 2012.
The 57-year-old – who was defending himself – has denied communicating false information and branded his arrest a "colossal cock-up… worthy of an apology, some damages" and "possibly a nice lunch from MI5", Southwark Crown Court heard.
The former barrister – who claims to be "an intelligence and national security specialist" – admitted to calling the office of then-Defence Secretary Phillip Hammond on April 19, 2012, before calling the office of Aylesbury MP David Lidington the following day to report details of a possible nuclear terror attack on the capital.
Alan Blake, prosecuting, told the court that the information given in the voicemails left by Shrimpton and expanded upon in a follow-up call was "extraordinary and dramatic", pointing out that Shrimpton’s claims came at a time when security concerns were high in the run-up to the London 2012 Olympic Games.
He added: "With the benefit of hindsight the information may seem the information may seem outlandish, perhaps even laughable".
The court heard how Shrimpton had warned that four nuclear warheads had been stolen from the Russian Kursk, a submarine that sank in August 2000 off the northern Russian coast.
He claimed one had been moved through London in an NHS ambulance and "stored near an East London hospital", where its low level radioactive emissions "would be masked by x-Ray emissions given off by a hospital", a jury was told.
Shrimpton was arrested shortly after the calls were made and interviewed at Aylesbury police station.
Mr Blake told the jury how Shrimpton made references to DVD – the Deutsches Verteidigungs Dienst, or German Defence Service – which he claimed was a shady agency that has "penetrated MI5, MI6 and GCHQ", the court heard.
Jurors were told how Shrimpton had claimed "The German DVD now control Al-Qaeda" and that "Bin Laden himself was a DVD asset".
He labelled his ongoing research into the threat to the London Olympics and Her Majesty "Operation Vulcan", the court was told.
There may be a temptation to dismiss the defendant as a harmless eccentric
The court learned that Barry Burton, the private secretary for Mr Hammond, had called Shrimpton after being told of a voicemail he had left the MPs office warning about the terror threat to the capital and the Queen.
In court today Shrimpton denied referring to a definite attack, claiming instead that he was simply passing along information of a potential nuclear plot to the relevant authorities.
During the conversation, Shrimpton claimed to be acquainted with several senior politicians, reassuring Mr Burton: "Iain Duncan Smith knows me."
Mr Blake said: "He told Mr Burton the weapon in the UK contained uranium and plutonium and was going to be used to attack the main [Olympic] stadium or Her Majesty the Queen."
Shrimpton was also said to have told Mr Burton that to locate the deadly warheads, the RAF would need to fly surveillance aircraft over Newham hospital in Plaistow, east London.
He claimed the hospital would first have to switch off its interfering x-ray machines, the court heard.
The jury was told that Shrimpton later claimed that the weapon was shipped back to Germany from Essex.
Appearing in court, Mr Burton described his 20-minute conversation with Shrimpton as "rational and lucid" but quickly dismissed the "worrying information" as a hoax after he was unable to verify Shrimpton's connections within the National Security Council.
Shrimpton questioned Mr Burton over the absence of a recording of their conversation together, telling the jury he believes that British intelligence agency GCHQ automatically recorded the call after voice recognition technology identified his voice.
Shrimpton, of Wendover in Buckinghamshire, denies two counts of communicating false information with intent.
Mr Blake told the jury that Shrimpton "is not being prosecuted for being a conspiracy theorist", but added: "There may be a temptation to dismiss the defendant as a harmless eccentric or even to some as mentally unbalanced.
"The defendant will be the first to assure you that he is sane and, he would say, highly intelligent.”
The trial continues.
