Pensioner denies involvement in Parliament pipe bomb threat

A pensioner has told a jury that a letter sent to Nicola Sturgeon threatening to blow up the Scottish Parliament with a pipe bomb and kill MSPs had nothing to do with him.

John Mitchell, 76, from Tullibody, a retired security guard, was giving evidence at the trial of Joshua Rosenberg, 43, from Kinfauns, Perthshire.

Rosenberg is accused of attempting to extort up to £95,000 from the landlords of the house he was renting in Strachan Crescent, Dollar, and then setting fire to it on February 20, 2015.

Prosecutors also allege Rosenberg sent a letter to Miss Sturgeon in February 2018 in a bid to blame Mr Mitchell for the house fire and falsely accuse him of criminal conduct.

Prosecutor Alan Cameron asked Mr Mitchell: “When did you first learn about this letter,” and he replied: “When Special Branch came to my house.”

The High Court in Glasgow heard that on March 29, 2015 Mr Mitchell went to Alloa Police Station and handed in a letter confessing to setting fire to the house.

Mr Mitchell told Mr Cameron: “I handed it in on the instructions of Joshua Rosenberg.”

When asked why he had done this, he replied: “At first I refused to do it and he said he would improve the looks of my grand daughter.”

Mr Cameron asked: “What did you take that to mean,” and the witness said:” Disfigure her face. I feared for my granddaughter's safety.”

Mr Mitchell added: “I was offered £150,000 by Joshua Rosenberg if I would take the blame. If I agreed to do time for him I would only get about three years because I was 72 at the time.”

When asked if he had set fire to the house, Mr Mitchell said : “No”

Rosenberg denies all the charges against him, which are alleged to have taken place between December 2014 and June 2018.

The High Court in Glasgow heard that the typed letter which appeared to be signed by 76-year-old John Mitchell arrived at the Scottish Parliament on February 20, 2018.

The letter was addressed to First Minister Nicola Sturgeon and stated “When you receive this I willI already be dead. And I give my life willingly to prove how I should not be forgotten,

"I will have detonatied a pipe bomb with metal ball bearings, coins and my keys I made myself out of an old fire extinguisher.

”I'm going to take out the Scottish Parliament's main chamber tomorrow or the day after and I hope to take as many MSPs as I can with me to the grave.”

The letter refers to him becoming "Scotland's first domestic terrorist” and ends “Hail ISIS, hail Hitler, Hail Donald Trump.”

The jury heard the note also contained a reference to Mr Mitchell coming to the High Court for Rosenberg's trial and stated: “I set fire to his house and I'm proud that I got away with it for years, I had great fun telling police that Joshua had threatened me to do it and had threatened my granddaughter.”

When asked if he had set fire to the house, Mr Mitchell said : “No”

The court heard that Mr Mitchell stood for the Scottish Parliament in 2011 for the Scottish Homeland Party and Rosenberg was his election agent. They polled three per cent of the vote.

Defence QC Gordon Jackson asked Mr Mitchell: “Are you suggesting someone else signed this,” and he replied: “Somebody has copied my signature.”

Mr Jackson then said: “You say you were offered £150,000 did you tell the police that,” and the witness replied: “I can't remember.”

The trial before Lord Beckett continues.