Man who threatened to lace baby formula with pesticide jailed

A man who threatened to lace baby formula with a deadly pesticide has been sentenced to eight and a half years in prison by a New Zealand court.

Jeremy Hamish Kerr sent packages containing baby formula mixed with 1080 pesticide to dairy company Fonterra and Federated Farmers, the body which represents New Zealand's agricultural sector, in November 2014. He threatened to spike powder destined for export abroad, including to China, with the toxin unless farmers stopped using it.

Kerr, the owner of rival pesticide Feratox, admitted two counts of blackmail at the High Court at Auckland, but denied he was motivated by financial gain.

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However, he was unable to provide a convincing account of why he had made the threats, telling a pre-sentence hearing he did not think they would be taken seriously.

His defence team argued he would only stand to make a "modest" gain if 1080 were no longer used.

The prosecution, however, argued that Kerr, who was in dire financial straits and struggling to pay bills, had hoped to profit from the threat to his rivals.

Justice Geoffrey Venning, sentencing the businessman, called the case one of the most serious of its kind and said Kerr's actions "posed a major threat to trading relationships between New Zealand and other countries", the New Zealand Herald reports.

Dairy co-operative Fonterra said the company had lost more than $20m (£9.5m) as a result of the scare.

"It's hard to imagine a worse threat to children and families," said Maury Leyland, the firm's managing director.

The police operation leading to Kerr's arrest, which at one point employed 36 full-time officers, cost a further $5m (£2.4m).

Prime Minister John Key took the unusual step of commenting on the case, telling the Herald that Kerr's actions were "despicable".

He added: "It will be a great relief to New Zealanders that this person has been put behind bars."