A man suspected of being involved in an international money-laundering ring has been jailed for more than eight years for targeting two National Crime Agency lawyers in a bomb plot.
Jonathan Nuttall was convicted of conspiring with his driver Michael Sode and a former Royal Marine, Michael Broddle, to plant two devices in London’s legal district.
A four-month trial at the Old Bailey heard Nuttall had been pursued by the NCA over the seizure of assets worth £1.4m. He came up with the plan to target the NCA lawyers Andrew Sutcliffe KC and Anne Jeavons after becoming upset at the prospect of losing his stately home in Hampshire.
The court heard he used Sode as a “middleman” to recruit Broddle to carry out research and reconnaissance on the lawyers. Broddle was accused of bringing his sons in to help with the plan, which culminated on 14 September 2021 when he planted two devices at Gray’s Inn in London – the heart of the English legal district.
Judge Mayo, sentencing on Friday, said: “In my judgment, this was a malicious, bold and extremely serious attack on those involved in the administration of justice.
“Your agreed purpose was to undermine the administration of justice. I am entirely satisfied that you intended serious harm to be occasioned by your agreed course of conduct. It is patently clear that the leaving of those devices would inevitably cause widespread alarm and disruption.”
Nuttall and Sode were found guilty of two charges of conspiring with Broddle to place an article with intent on or before 14 September 2021. The three were convicted of conspiring to transfer criminal property. Nuttall was convicted of two charges of failing to comply with a notice and Sode was found guilty of one similar charge.
In his victim impact statement, Sutcliffe said he had never previously heard of any legal representative being targeted in a “mafioso-type way” in an attempt to disrupt legal proceedings.
He said he was “deeply alarmed and distressed” to learn Nuttall’s “premeditated campaign of fear and intimidation” included keeping his family under surveillance.
Jeavons said she felt “angry and shaken” that Nuttall had honed his anger into a “cruel, cowardly and entirely misplaced” attack upon her and Sutcliffe. In her statement, she described Nuttall’s actions as “malicious and vindictive” and said his campaign had had a “significant” impact on her and her family.
The first device, left near a bench, was spotted by a porter and later found to be “potentially viable” as it contained a smoke grenade, jurors were told. Another smoke grenade was let off with the second non-viable device near Sutcliffe’s office with the intent to cause “maximum alarm”.
It came with a letter addressed to Sutcliffe, using his old army nickname, Sooty, that contained false allegations against him.
Nuttall was jailed for eight years and two months. Sode, who denied wrongdoing and claimed he was involved in recovering debts from clients of an escort agency business, was sentenced to six years and six months. Broddle, who took responsibility for planting the devices but declined to name who he was working for, was jailed for seven years. His sons were previously cleared of wrongdoing.
PA Media contributed to this report
