'Bomb' letter arrives too late for action

5:17pm Monday 16th July 2007

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A WARNING that a Hampshire supermarket might be bombed, arrived too late for evasive action.

It was sent to Win FM, but the radio station in Winchester received it two days after the threat was due to be carried out.

The letter stated that an explosion would take place at the Tesco store in Whiteley.

The retailer was forced to close several branches across Britain because of hoax bomb threats last weekend.

The warnings were sent to media groups and said the blasts would occur on Saturday (July 14).

Tesco shut 14 stores, but they reopened within 24 hours after no explosives were found.

None of the closures were in Hampshire, but the county did not escape the attention of the hoax bombers.

On Monday morning, the sales manager at Win FM, Claire Evans, was opening the post.

Among the items was a letter stating that Tesco's store in Whiteley would be bombed.

However, the time given for the explosion was Saturday afternoon, around 40 hours before the message arrived.

Win FM's regional news manager, Kevin Gover, said it might have been delayed because Royal Mail staff went on strike on Friday.

He added that their post was checked on Saturday, but the warning letter, which had a first class stamp, did not arrive until Monday.

"The postal strike obviously delayed it, and just imagine if something had happened.

"We didn't have the opportunity to phone them at Whiteley and tell them," said Mr Gover.

Win FM alerted police, and the letter was examined before being passed to Hertfordshire Constabulary. The force is leading the national inquiry because the county is home to Tesco's HQ.

Officers added that several others hoax threats came to light on Monday, in addition to the one at Win FM.

A police statement said: "All threats are treated seriously and public safety is of utmost importance in this investigation.

"Every effort is being made to trace those involved. We still have no reason to believe that the threats are linked to extremism of any kind."

Tesco added that police advised them to search the stores that were named in Monday's letters. None were closed, apart from a branch in Bristol where a controlled explosion was carried out on a suspect package.

The retailer added: "Customers and staff can be confident that their safety and well-being remains Tesco's primary concern at all times."