A businessman behind fake bombs planted in London’s legal district to intimidate two lawyers has been jailed for eight years and two months.
Jonathan Nuttall, 50, hired two men to place packages designed to resemble explosive devices at Gray’s Inn in 2021.
His trial previously heard he was “embarrassed” about an investigation into him and his wife.
The judge called the plot “malicious” and said it aimed to undermine justice.
Nuttall was found guilty of a number of charges last month.
Nuttall targeted two lawyers for the National Crime Agency – Andrew Sutcliffe KC and Anne Jeavons – after the agency conducted legal proceedings against him and his wife, Amanda, which resulted in £1m of assets being recovered from Amanda Nuttall.
The court heard he was upset at the prospect of his losing his stately home, Embley Manor in Romsey, Hampshire.
At sentencing, judge Simon Mayo KC called the plot “a malicious, bold and extremely serious attack on those involved in the administration of justice”.
“I am entirely satisfied that you intended serious harm to be occasioned by your agreed course of conduct.
“It is patently clear that the leaving of those devices would inevitably cause widespread alarm and disruption”.
CCTV shows the moment that a fake bomb is planted at Gray’s Inn
Nuttall recruited his driver, Michael Sode, and an ex-marine, Michael Broddle, to plant the devices.
One of the porters at Gray’s Inn gave evidence at the Old Bailey trial about how he discovered one of the devices in September 2021 in an A5 envelope which was sealed and “vibrating”.
A receptionist in Gray’s Inn also told the court how she saw a man dressed all in black with a face mask walk past and then heard the sound of a thump and smoke rising before the figure walked past her again.
In his victim impact statement, Mr Sutcliffe said he had never heard of a legal representative being targeted in a “Mafioso-type way” to try and disrupt legal proceedings.
He added that he was “deeply alarmed and distressed” to learn that Nuttall’s “premeditated campaign of fear and intimidation” included keeping his family under surveillance.
Mrs Jeavons said she felt “angry and shaken” that Nuttall had honed his anger into a “cruel, cowardly and entirely misplaced” attack. She added that his campaign has had a “significant” impact on her and her family.
