MANCHESTER A shadowy group of extreme Scottish nationalists gave warning that they were prepared to kill thousands of English people by poisoning a city’s water supply, a jury at Manchester Crown Court was told yesterday.

The warning was contained in a package, sent through the post to a Scottish journalist, containing a vodka miniature contaminated with a lethal dose of caustic soda.

Another miniature of the poison was sent to a councillor in Blackburn, Lancashire, congratulating him on his recent victory at the polls and urging him to “have a drink on me”, but it was identified by postal workers as suspicious.

One of the notes was signed SNLA which, the court was told, stood for Scottish National Liberation Army.

Wayne Cook, 45, unemployed, from Tyldesley, Greater Manchester, denies two charges of sending noxious substances through the post likely to endanger life and designed to influence the Government or intimidate a section of the public. The trial continues.

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