Fantasist barrister faces jail for sparking security scare with claim that German spies were planning ’24-style’ nuclear attack on the Queen at London Olympics
- Michael Shrimpton, 57, called Parliament over nuclear threat in April 2012
- Said German spies had weapon in London and were going to attack Queen
- Is facing jail after being found guilty of communicating false information
- But sentencing delayed until next year while psychiatric test carried out
By Chris Pleasance for MailOnline
Published: 18:26, 25 November 2014 | Updated: 18:50, 25 November 2014
Michael Shrimpton, 57, is facing jail after being found guilty of phoning Parliament in April 2012 to say the Queen was the target of a nuclear attack
A barrister who claimed that German spies were plotting to attack the Queen with a nuclear weapon at the London Olympics has been found guilty of communicating false information.
Michael Shrimpton, 57, called a close colleague of former Defence Secretary Philip Hammond in April 2012 to say that a nuclear warhead had been stashed in an east London hospital and was going to be used to attack either the Queen, the Olympic Stadium, or the opening ceremony.
He also claimed his house in Wendover, Buckinghamshire, was a ‘bona fide’ HQ for an international intelligence network – but he is today facing jail after being found guilty at Southwark Crown Court.
A jury of nine men and three women found Shrimpton guilty of two counts of communicating false information after more than six hours of deliberation, with majority 11-1 verdicts.
Sentencing will take place in February of next year after Judge Alistair McCreath QC ordered that Shrimpton be sent for psychiatric evaluation.
Judge McCreath said: ‘The sentence that I pass upon you will have to reflect that gravity of the conduct of which you have been convicted.
‘But if, as may be the case, there is some underlying reason for it, then it seems to me important that I be informed of that underlying reason and I am therefore minded to order that you undergo psychiatric examination.’
Shrimpton, author of ‘Spyhunter: The Secret History of German Intelligence’, replied he had ‘no objection’ to the order.
In April 2012, just as preparations for the London Olympics were entering their final phase, Shrimpton contacted Barry Burton, the principal private secretary to Philip Hammond.
He told Mr Burton that spies from ‘a covert and rather sinister’ Germany agency had sabotaged Russian submarine Kursk, which sank in 2000, and stole four nuclear warheads.
The lawyer boasted of ‘credible European sources’, name-dropped members of parliament, and said intelligence had been blocked through official channels because the Germans had infiltrated MI5, MI6 and GCHQ.
During the 20-minute call Shrimpton said he had gathered intelligence from his own network of volunteers that one warhead was being stored in a hospital in London to avoid detection.
Mr Burton suspected that the call had been a hoax, but was forced to pass the information over to the Olympic security team and the police.
The following day Shrimpton phoned the Aylesbury Conservative Association and asked to speak with MP David Lidington about the threat, which he described as being in the style of American TV show ’24’.
The call was reported to a colleague at Parliament, and Shrimpton was arrested the same day.
Shrimpton called a close colleague of then Defence Secretary Philip Hammond to say German spies had looted four nuclear warheads from a sunken Russia sub and were hiding one in London for the attack
Shrimpton claimed his arrest was a ‘colossal cock-up’, blamed the Germans and demanded a ‘nice lunch with MI5’.
In interview at Aylesbury police station he boasted he was a ‘national security specialist’ with hundreds of intelligence contacts who acted as a back channel between governments.
Representing himself at his two-week trial, he told jurors he worked on the investigation into Madeleine McCann’s disappearance and the case of Chilean dictator General Augusto Pinochet.
He read extracts from his address book with a number of ‘contacts’ in the CIA, FBI, MI6, the Pentagon, Chinese intelligence and Parliament.
Shrimpton said: ‘I admit that the stuff I deal with is bound to sound strange, high falutin, incredible and fantastic.It’s my world, welcome to my world.’
Shrimpton claimed he has rubbed shoulders with royalty, former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and listed a number of famous names including Richard Branson and Steven Forbes.
Giving evidence he boasted of meeting Prince Philip twice in a social context and claimed to have to Royal’s phone number.
Shrimpton said the information had been blocked through official channels because the Germans had infiltrated MI5, MI6, and GCHQ (pictured, the Queen at the London 2012 opening ceremony)
Among his other claims were that he was consulted by the makers of TV show Spooks on his specialist knowledge, that the CIA had allowed him to enter the U.S. carrying a weapon, and that the LA Sheriff’s Department had discussed terror attacks with him over a cup of coffee.
He also insisted he has the authority to issue a Defence Advisory Notice on behalf of the government to stop British media from publishing stories that could compromise national security.
He said he wanted to prevent the News of the World from blowing his intelligence, and added they were ‘very cooperative’.
Shrimpton told jurors that there had been an assassination attempt against him by the Chinese authorities who wanted to ‘whack’ him.
In response, prosecutor Alan Blake said: ‘The information was extraordinary and dramatic, in essence Mr Shrimpton announced that a nuclear weapon stolen from the sunken Russian submarine the Kursk a number of years ago, that such a nuclear weapon had been smuggled into the UK and was being stored in a London hospital in preparation to be used during the Olympic games.
‘With the benefit of hindsight the information may seem outlandish, perhaps even laughable.
‘Before being too dismissive do recall the position in 2012 when those calls were made.’
Sitting at Southwark Crown Court, Judge Alistair McCreath QC delayed sentencing for Shrimpton until February next year while the lawyer has psychiatric tests
At that stage, surface to air missiles had just been installed on the tops of a number of blocks of flats and it was feared terrorists could infiltrate G4S staff after the security company began frantically hiring after announcing a staff shortage, the court heard.
Mr Blake said Shrimpton was a ‘respected professional man’ who has ‘superficial plausibility’.
He added: ‘It is the prosecution’s case that the information provided by Mr Shrimpton was false and that when he communicated those threats he didn’t honestly or genuinely believe that they were true or rather knew or believed that they were false.’
Shrimpton was granted conditional bail ahead of sentencing on February 6
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