Failed asylum seeker who left fake dynamite outside MI5 headquarters jailed

A Brazilian man who planted a fake stick of dynamite outside MI5 headquarters has been jailed.

Julian Valente Pereira, 33, left the mock explosive at the Thames House home of the security service in central London, on New Years day.

A day earlier his asylum claim had been rejected and he was handed a deportation notice to return to Brazil.

On Friday he was sentenced to two and a half years behind bars for the hoax.

Prosecutor Shannon Revel had said he wanted "maximum attention" after a long running battle with the Home Office to stay in the UK.

In CCTV footage, he could be seen stuffing paperwork about his immigration case through the doors of the building, before planting the fake stick of dynamite.

A bomb expert had to be called, who discovered that 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.

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

The court heard how he was living in an asylum hotel in Uxbridge, west London, and was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and schizophrenia.

Giving evidence, Pereira said the device he left outside MI5 would not have been mistaken for an explosive.

Judge 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".

Even though officers identified it as a hoax in under an hour, concerns remained the dummy device could have been "a diversionary tactic in preparation for another incident elsewhere", Judge Lucraft said.

Sentencing him at the Old Bailey on Friday, Judge Mark Lucraft KC said he "may well" be deported.

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He told the defendant: "You are of good character, demonstrating some remorse for what you did, expressing regret and sorrow for your actions that day.

"You accept now that what you did was foolish."

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