School caretaker questioned in letter bombs inquiry

A primary school caretaker was being questioned by detectives tonight over the recent series of seven letter bombings.

Miles Cooper, who is aged in his 20s, was held by police in the early hours of this morning at his home in Welstead Road, Cherry Hinton, near Cambridge and taken to an undisclosed police station.

As specialist forensic teams began what is likely to be a lengthy search of his home, other officers searched the school where he worked.

Mr Cooper is listed on Teversham Church of England primary school’s website as the caretaker.

Police said their searches of the school had been conducted with the “full co-operation” of the headteacher and Cambridgeshire County Council.

Sources close to the investigation described Mr Cooper’s arrest as a “very significant” development in the hunt for the letter bomber.

It is understood to have followed a surveillance operation. At least one of the letters apparently featured a Cambridgeshire post mark.

However, neighbours expressed their shock at the news.

Next-door neighbour Keith Bailey said Mr Cooper had lived at the house with his mother Lorraine and sister Sally for the best part of 20 years.

“I see Miles most mornings when I am out walking the dog,” said Mr Bailey, 65, a retired paint stripper.

“Mostly all we do is say hello. That’s about all you ever get from Miles, he is a very quiet sort of boy.

“He is the last person in the world I would have thought would be arrested over something like this.

“He is not a rowdy type of lad at all. Very quiet; you don’t see him about much.”

Mr Bailey said the police arrived at the house at around 3am.

“I heard cars pulling up and doors opening, and voices, and wondered what was going on,” he said.

“I looked out and saw some policemen at the back and then I saw Miles and his mother walking away with the police.”

Mother of three Michelle Brasnett, 37, works as a dinner lady at Teversham school.

She described the caretaker as a loner.

“He is always on his bicycle and always alone. I’ve never seen him with friends or a girlfriend or anything,” she said.

“I don’t tend to say hello because he doesn’t really acknowledge you if you speak to him.”

The arrest was announced at a press conference this morning by Anton Setchell, the Association of Chief Police Officers’ national co-ordinator for domestic extremism.

“We have now reached a very significant stage in this inquiry,” Mr Setchell said.

“During the early hours of this morning, police arrested a man in the Cambridge area. He is now being held at an undisclosed police station.”

However, police admitted today that another letter bomb could still be in the postal system somewhere.

Mr Setchell said: “At this stage I am not able to guarantee that there is not another postal package containing an explosive device within the postal system.

“I am therefore renewing my request for the public to maintain their vigilance and not to handle any post which appears in any way suspicious.”

Police believe all seven letter bombings are linked. At least nine people have been injured in the blasts.

The bombs were sent in two main clusters.

The first three, on January 18, were sent to forensic science laboratories in the Oxfordshire and West Midlands areas.

Another three were sent earlier this month to the offices of companies with links to traffic enforcement in London, Berkshire and Swansea.

They included the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency in Swansea and the offices of the company which runs London’s congestion charging system.

They arrived on three consecutive days but police now believe all three were posted on the same day.

In between the two clusters, a device was sent to a house in Folkestone, Kent, which is used as a business address.

In each of the attacks, the bombs have been home-made pyrotechnic-style devices in A5 Jiffy bags. At least two contained glass.

Detectives have also been liaising with Cambridgeshire Police over a parcel bomb attack on a local Labour Party office in Cambridge last August.

At the moment, police are remaining tight-lipped about a possible motive for the bombings. All they said today was that a number of lines of inquiry were being “actively investigated”.

The inquiry has focused on animal rights extremism as well as the possibility that a disgruntled motorist or someone aggrieved by Britain’s increasing surveillance society could be responsible.

At least two of the parcels contained the names of animal rights protesters, including Barry Horne, who was jailed and died while on hunger strike.

Mr Setchell added tonight: “Police will remain at an address in Teversham, Cambridge, while forensic searches are conducted. These searches are expected to last a number of days.

“Officers have today conducted searches of Teversham primary school, with the full co-operation of the headteacher and Cambridgeshire County Council. The school remains open.”