Washington bomb threat farmer jailed

A tobacco farmer dubbed Tractor Man who brought Washington to a standstill with a bomb threat was jailed for six years today.

Dwight Ware Watson, 51, was convicted of making a false threat to detonate explosives, and destruction of federal property.

On March 17, 2003, Watson parked his tractor near the Washington Monument and for the next 47 hours he sat there, claiming to have “organophosphate bombs” in a metal box attached to a trailer that he towed to the scene.

Police closed several blocks of Constitution Avenue as Watson continued the stand-off. Over four consecutive rush hours, traffic was backed up for miles in the US capital and neighbouring northern Virginia.

A search of Watson’s vehicles turned up a pair of aerosol insecticide cans and a practice grenade incapable of exploding.