Former Lancashire postman jailed for bomb plot

[TrueBlueTerrier]

http://www.lep.co.uk/news/local/former- ... -1-5769898" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

A former Lancashire postman who planted a bomb as part of a hate campaign against a colleague has been jailed for seven years.

Stephen Kay, 37, launched the chilling vendetta of revenge after his complaints of alleged bullying by the colleague, Alexander Winter, were rejected by bosses.

Liverpool Crown Court heard Kay, who worked at Morecambe sorting office, created an improvised explosive device (IED) which he attached by a clothes line to Mr Winter’s back door, intending it would explode.

The device consisted of a five-litre oil can half filled with petrol and a tube containing an explosive cocktail of black powder, lead shot and ball bearings.

Kay, of of Mardale Avenue, Morecambe, had denied placing an explosive device with intent when he was 22 but was convicted after a trial. He admitted possessing an air rifle without a certificate and possessing CS gas canisters.

Judge Clement Goldstone, QC, the Recorder of Liverpool, told Kay: “You began to harbour a grudge against Mr Winter and decided to take the law into your own hands,

“You used your skill and passion to create an IED, with the intention it would explode and cause at least serious injury to anyone who opened the back door.”

Kay resigned from his postman job after a disciplinary hearing about the redirection of mail in September 1997, by which time he was seeing a psychiatrist for a paranoia involving thoughts about killing colleagues.

The court was told Kay had a passion since childhood for explosives and at the time of the campaign in the late 1990s, he was suffering from a persecution complex.

He was convicted of throwing a rock through a coffee shop window because of a grievance in 2009 and the next year he headbutted a 75-year-old man in a row over a parking space.

He had also sat in his car with a crossbow because of a grudge against another former colleague. He was arrested in 2010.

Defending, Paul Humphries said the offence involving the IED occurred because he had reacted inappropriately to “perceived bullying.”

[TrueBlueTerrier]

http://www.clickliverpool.com/news/live ... tacks.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;?

Troubled postman jailed for historic bomb attacks

A disgruntled Royal Mail postman strapped an explosive device to the back door of a colleague's house after a bullying complaint was dismissed.

Troubled Stephen Kay, 37, from Morecambe, has been jailed for seven years in prison for launching a string of attacks more than 13 years ago.

Liverpool Crown Court heard Kay was in his early 20s and was seeing a psychiatrist for anger issues when he began his campaign of terror.

His intended target was Alexander Winter, who Kay had complained about being victimised by in 1997 but the allegation was not taken seriously.

On 4th November 1997 when he put an explosive device under Winter's car when it was parked outside his home.

The court heard Winter did not suspect sinister intentions when he noticed scorch marks on the floor outside his house because it was the day before Bonfire Night.

Two years later, Kay placed a petrol bomb on the back door of Winter's family home in Morecambe on 23rd March 1999.

Instead of his intended target opening the door Winter's wife walked through it but the bomb - despite being "primed with intent" - failed to detonate, the court heard.

After that the attacks mysteriously stopped.

Then, in 2005, police received an anonymous tip about the incident in 1999 which could have killed Mrs Winter.

However, there was insufficient evidence to build a case.

Bizarrely, two years later Kay sent a message on Facebook to a journalist from a local newspaper giving information about his botched bid to blow up Mr Winter's car in 1997.

The police investigation resumed and detectives searched Kay's house on Mardale Avenue, Morecambe, in 2010 and found a German air rifle and two CS gas canisters.

Kay was charged with a four offences relating to handling weapons, noxious liquids or gases and explosives.

He was handed a sentence of seven years for four charges to run concurrently.

Recorder of Liverpool Judge Clement Goldstone QC said: "The explosions did not occur for whatever reason but not through lack of any intent.

"You had seen a psychiatrist in the nineties and you acknowledged that you had a difficulty controlling your temper.

"You were only 21 and 22 at the time when you launched the campaign against Mr Winter.

"More than 14 years has passed since that campaign and you must feel agrieved that your attempts to cause injury to him or his wife were unsuccessful."

[Lounge Lizard]

"Kay resigned from his postman job after a disciplinary hearing about the redirection of mail in September 1997" - yet 26 years later 'former' and 'postman' make two of the six words of the newspaper headline.

[UnhappyGremlin]

"Kay resigned from his postman job after a disciplinary hearing about the redirection of mail in September 1997" - yet 26???? years later 'former' and 'postman' make two of the six words of the newspaper headline.

It's just short of 16 years.....

But, I agree totally with your point. He hasn't been a postman for so long, why mention it at all? Why not mention another or all his former occupations.
Just seems like the media has a downer on Posties sometimes.