'Anthrax hoaxer' in court

Anthrax scares trigger full-scale biological alerts

A man accused of sending letters containing white powder to First Secretary Rhodri Morgan and a leading travel writer is appearing in court.

Nicholas Roberts is charged with sending four hoax letters

Nicholas Roberts, 50, from Tudor Street, Riverside, Cardiff, came before Cardiff Magistrates' Court for a second time to hear charges regarding four alleged hoax letters.

Mr Roberts broke down in tears as the charges were read out to him.

He is accused of sending letters to Mr Morgan, the author Jan Morris and two people said to be friends of his, Alun Griffiths and Andrew Bignall.

The letters, likened in court to a hoax anthrax campaign, were later discovered to contain flour.

Mr Roberts, who has a degree in chemistry, is charged under the Malicious Communications Act with sending four letters with intent to cause distress or anxiety on October 17 this year.

Rhodri Morgan: Target of hoax letter

The former piano teacher, now unemployed, appeared in court wearing a white T-shirt and jeans and spoke only to confirm his name. Mr Roberts was remanded in custody for seven days when magistrates chair Judith James refused him bail.

At an earlier hearing, the court heard that, in relation to the same letters, he was also charged with the more serious offence, triable in crown court, of causing a nuisance to the public by sending four letters containing flour with the intention of causing fear or serious harm.

Three of the letters were intercepted at the main sorting office in Cardiff, while a fourth was found in a post-box in Powys, mid Wales.

Mr Roberts sobbed in the dock before magistrates remanded him in custody to appear on 25 October..

The incidents coincided with a separate investigation in the US, in which it was confirmed that strains of anthrax sent to targets in New York, Florida and Washington came from the same source.

Three people in the US, including two postal workers, are known to have died from anthrax.

Emergency services were called to a string of unrelated anthrax scares across Wales in the week of the finds, including the DVLA in Swansea and an incident in Cardiff.