The letters were signed "Arbuthnot, the sign is the spider" and had dead spiders taped to them.[1][2] Some of them had text composed of letters cut out of a magazine and demanded that Tesco respond via an advertisement in the personal column in The Times.[1][2] Tesco did not respond.[1][2]
In July, hoax bomb warnings were sent to 76 Tesco supermarkets.[1][2] They warned that bombs would go off on Saturday, 14 July or "Black Saturday".[1][2]
14 Tesco branches closed, including those in Clitheroe, Grimsby, Pontefract, Market Harborough, Ashby de la Zouch, Bury St Edmunds, Hucknall, Hereford, Ledbury and Glasgow.[1][2] The closures cost Tesco £1.4 million.[1][2][3]
After the threats the letter writer wrote to Tesco executives again demanding £200 a day and an overall figure of £1 million, which would have taken the blackmailer 13 years to amass the total amount.[1][2][3]
Police decided to lure the blackmailer into giving away their identity by transferring money into a bank account as demanded.[1][2]
On four consecutive dates in July 2007, the suspect withdrew money from cashpoints in Blackburn, Bolton, Burnley and Carlisle.[1][2] Although he concealed his face, he wore distinctive Wellington boots that helped police track him on CCTV.[1][2] On 23 July 2007, the suspect, Phil McHugh was arrested in his home on Milton Avenue, Clitheroe.[1][2] McHugh was a former tax inspector and unemployed charity worker who had gambling debts of £37,000.[1][2][5] McHugh pleaded guilty to three specimen charges of blackmail and two charges of communicating a bomb hoax and in January 2008, he was sentenced to six years imprisonment.[1][2][3][4][5]
