Asylum seeker jailed for dynamite hoax at MI5 HQ

An asylum seeker who left a fake stick of dynamite outside the headquarters of MI5 has been jailed for two and a half years for carrying out a bomb hoax.

Brazilian national Julian Valente Pereira, 32, staged the protest at Thames House in Millbank on 1 January, a day after his final appeal for asylum was dismissed.

Pereira was found guilty in February at City of London Magistrates' Court of placing an article with the intention of inducing another to believe the item was going to explode.

Sentencing him at the Old Bailey, Judge Mark Lucraft KC said the defendant "may well" be deported from the UK.

Pereira came to the UK with permission to work in July 2018 but went on to claim asylum, which was rejected.

Prosecutor Shannon Revel said he wanted "maximum attention" on his complaints against the Home Office after his failed bid for permission to stay in Britain.

CCTV footage showed Pereira stuffing paperwork about his immigration case through the doors of the MI5 building, then retrieved a fake explosive from his bag which he threw on the pavement.

A bomb expert was called and found the device was made from rolled-up A4 paper, brown masking tape and string.

The incident coincided with a New Year's Day parade taking place in the capital.

Lucraft noted police concerns at the time that the fake dynamite was a "genuine explosive", and that dealing with the incident "diverted them from other things".

The court was told the defendant, who was living in an asylum hotel in Uxbridge, west London, had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder and schizophrenia.

Listen to the best of BBC Radio London on Sounds and follow BBC London on Facebook, X and Instagram. Send your story ideas to hello.bbclondon@bbc.co.uk