McDonald's 'bomb' attack man is jailed

AN ANIMAL rights activist who terrorised staff and customers by throwing what appeared to be a bomb across the counter of a crowded McDonald's restaurant was jailed for 15 months yesterday.

Christopher Tucker, 29, a painter from Hounslow, west London, had been convicted at an earlier hearing of causing an affray at the restaurant in Kensington, west London, on 2 May.

Jailing Tucker at Southwark Crown Court yesterday, Assistant Recorder Timothy Workman said his sincerely-held beliefs were no justification for what he did. 'The offence was clearly premeditated and required preparation. No doubt you intended to cause fear and panic to customers and staff.'

He said people in the restaurant clearly feared the smoking canister Tucker had thrown at the restaurant's grills was a bomb or incendiary device. 'In the climate, both then and now, in London that was entirely understandable,' the judge said. The 'bomb' was a greenhouse smoke canister used to kill white fly.

The court heard that Tucker, who had several previous convictions involving animal rights activities, threw the canister after asking a staff member whether they killed animals in the restaurants. After he was convicted, Tucker was banned from entering every McDonald's restaurant in Britain.