A 42-year-old man accused of sending a bottle containing caustic soda in a package to a Blackburn councillor appeared before court today charged under anti terrorism laws.
Steven Kerr Robinson, 42, of Robert Street, Tyldesley, Manchester, is also accused of sending a similar package to a journalist in Glasgow.
At a brief appearance before City of Westminster Magistrates' Court he was remanded in custody to re-appear at the court on June 5 for a committal hearing.
He is charged with two offences that on 25 April, 2007, within the jurisdiction of the Central Criminal Court he "designed to influence the Government."
It is alleged he sent two package containing a noxious substance or other noxious thing, Sodium Hydroxide (Caustic Soda') which was likely to endanger human life or create a serious risk to the health or safety of a section of the public.
It was, say the charges, "designed to influence the Government or to intimidate a section of the public Contrary to Section 113 of the Anti-Terrorism, Crime and Security Act 2001.
At the hearing, in which there was no application for bail, prosecutor Karen Jones outlined the allegations without specifying the identity of the victims.
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