A lawyer has been hospitalised after he injected his own blood into supermarket food.
Leoaai Elghareeb, 38, targeted local Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Waitrose stores on August 25, 2021, and jabbed products, including bacon and chicken fillets, with blood-filled syringes, reports My London.
The three shops on Fulham Palace Road were forced to carry out a deep clean and chuck out all the products on their shelves, costing nearly £500,000.
At a trial in Isleworth Crown Court last year, Elghareeb, was found not guilty by reason of insanity..
Appearing at court yesterday, Wednesday, May 3, via video-link, Elghareeb was hospitalised under Section 37 of the Mental Health Act for continued psychiatric treatment.
The court heard that on the day of the incident he left his home with a bucket full of hypodermic needles and syringes with his own blood. He threw one at a doctor as he walked past, however it only bounced off her collarbone and caused no injuries.
CCTV captured him as he next entered the Waitrose store, throwing syringe caps and sticking needles into packets of food. Customers were then encouraged by staff members at the supermarket to leave immediately.
Elghareeb then moved into the Sainsburys but when confronted by a security guard, he pushed him in the chest and threw an egg, shouting “you are all vile people”.
He continued in Tesco, causing the three stores to close early and remove their products. The lawyer was then spotted at a Tapas bar where he threw a plant pot through the front door, narrowly missing a waiter.
Cops soon caught up with him and he was detained and arrested a short time later. All in 21 syringes were found and removed form the supermarkets. A search of his home found that he had removed light bulbs from fittings and coffee granules were scattered across the floor.
Jurors heard Elghareeb had sufferd mental health issues for 12 years and believed he was under the control of spies and living in a real-life version of The Truman Show. He has since been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia that involved “paranoid and persecutory delusions and voices”
Consultant psychiatrist Dr Nicholas Larsen stated that Elghareeb’s mental state had ‘not changed significantly’ since last year.
Kyria Argyropoulos, defending, said: ‘The present case was one where Mr Elghareeb was very much making a cry for help, trying to get himself noticed by the police which he succeeded in doing. His progress was described as ‘heart-warming’ by Dr Larsen, and it is perhaps encouraging how much better he had presented himself both outwardly and to the experts due to his continuing treatment at the hospital.
"Everything we heard today suggests there is a very good and considered safety net surrounding whatever happens to Mr Elghareeb in the future."
Judge Hammerton told Elghareeb: "The food contaminated offences concerns you contaminating food through the injection of a syringe, each were clearly visible, and you made no effort to disguise your actions.
"Whilst the three stores suffered substantial financial loss it is fortunate no physical harmed occurred and there is no evidence that serious physical harm was a likely consequence of your actions."
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