A blackmailer has been convicted in Germany of threatening to blow up a British hospital unless he was paid £10million during the height of the coronavirus pandemic.
Emil Apreda, 33, posed as a far-right terrorist who would target an unspecified NHS building unless he was paid in the cryptocurrency Bitcoin.
He has today been jailed for three years after being found guilty of attempted extortion.
Apreda also threatened to bomb Black Lives Matter protests and politicians on the anniversary of the murder of Labour MP Jo Cox.
Apreda sent 17 messages to the NHS and the National Crime Agency over a six week period last spring.
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The emails were sent from an address which began “Combat18” - a reference to the neo-Nazi group of the same name.
Apreda, an Italian national, attempted to cover his tracks by using the anonymous TOR network, software designed to hide an internet user’s identity.
But the NCA, with the help of other British agencies, were able to trace the emails through his electronic trail to the flat where he lived alone and identify him with the assistance of German detectives.
Apreda cynically exploited the surge in far right extremism during a period of huge strain for the NHS and government agencies as the first wave of the virus swept the nation, investigators said.
Timothy Court, Head of Investigations in the National Cyber Crime Unit, said he threatened to disrupt treatment for patients who were “dying in their hundreds every day”.
He said: “At that time we were dealing with someone who might deploy a bomb.
“If that had become public, confidence in the NHS would have been damaged and that would have been unacceptable.”
Details of the probe were kept secret until Apreda appeared at a district court in Berlin last December.
He was arrested at his flat in the city on June 15, on the eve of the anniversary of Ms Cox's murder by far right extremist Thomas Mair.
Investigators determined the suspect had no bomb and no specific target, and the case was assigned to a Berlin district court rather than a higher court due to the nature of the allegations.
Apreda was found guilty following a trial at the District Criminal Court in Berlin.
He has been sentenced to three years in prison but released on bail until the decision is ratified.
