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Wednesday, April 14, 1999 Published at 13:14 GMT 14:14 UK UK Mardi Gra bomber jailed Eltham High Street, London, after an attack on Sainsbury's Mardi Gra bomber Edgar Pearce has been jailed for 21 years after admitting a three-year blackmail and terror campaign. Pearce, 61, of Chiswick, west London, pleaded guilty last week to 20 charges including causing an explosion, possessing firearms and wounding.
But after hearing further medical reports on Wednesday, the Recorder of London, Michael Hyam, ruled out the prospect of Pearce receiving psychiatric treatment. Sentencing Pearce to concurrent terms totalling 224 years, the judge said he had been motivated by greed and an "insatiable appetite for notoriety".
He said Pearce had tried to avoid being caught in a "money trap" as had happened to extortionist Rodney Witchelo, who was caught and jailed 10 years ago. But Det Supt Rees said: "He was caught and has been sentenced to an even longer term of imprisonment."
The court was told that he had blackmailed Barclays after a dispute with the bank. He switched his extortion campaign to the supermarket chain when he realised he would not get any money. Pearce spent months stalking and photographing Sainsbury's customers. He threatened to target 150 of them with a high-powered crossbow unless his demands for money were met.
Pearce was arrested in Whitton, west London, on 28 April last year, after falling into a police trap when withdrawing money from a cash machine. He had collected £700 that day - the only money he received during his campaign which resulted in several people being injured.
They also found more than 100 photographs of shoppers taken near various stores in the London area. Pearce told police that he had spent three to four months taking the photographs and meticulously filing them in envelopes. Pearce's brother Ronald, 67, also of Chiswick, has already been jailed for a year after he admitted possessing a stun gun. |
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