Uncovered: Woman who sent weedkiller to Blair

Freed, 72, of Potters Mead, appeared at Brighton Magistrates' Court on Thursday to answer five charges of making hoax threats under the Anti-Terrorism Crime and Security Act, 2001. The maximum penalty is seven years in prison.

Wearing a grey blouse, a black and white scarf and a large black crucifix, Freed spoke only to confirm her personal details and to plead guilty.

The charges stated the packages were sent with the intent of inducing a belief that they were likely to contain a noxious substance that would endanger health.

Prosecutor Manjula Nayee told the court several letters and packages, all sent from Sussex last year, had been intercepted at the Nine Elms mail centre in London.

Each time one was found, the centre was evacuated by bomb-disposal officers also trained to deal with noxious substances such as anthrax.

The first package sent to Mr Blair was discovered on September 8. It contained six further envelopes, one addressed to the Prime Minister and the others to cabinet ministers Gordon Brown, David Blunkett, Hazel Blears, Patricia Hewitt and Louise Casey, said Mrs Nayee.

These letters contained a mixture of sugar, starch, herbicide and the element boron.

The letter to Mr Blair also contained press cuttings with the hand-written words "Blair we are watching you. Be very afraid. Be very afraid. Oliver's Army."

Earlier that month a parcel was sent to the House of Commons addressed to Health Secretary Patricia Hewitt which contained a fibre laxative along with newspaper cuttings, added Mrs Nayee.

In December, senior backbench MP Ann Clwyd, a staunch supporter of the war in Iraq, was sent newspaper cuttings, along with aluminium sulphate, normally used to purify water, and a message which read: "Be afraid. Be very afraid. You are playing a dangerous game."

The court heard that even Mr Blair's family became targets with letters addressed to his son Euan and wife Cherie intercepted by mail workers.

On May 18, Euan Blair was sent a greetings card with a note suggesting that his father was a war criminal guilty of "murdering thousands of Iraqi babies", adding "the sins of the fathers shall be visited on the children '” your scripture".

This package also contained weedkiller.

Cherie Blair was the intended target of a package sent on June 10, which contained press cuttings along with the herbicide, sodium chlorate, and sodium chloride, better known as salt.

This package, said Mrs Nayee, contained the message: "With the compliments of the Red Lion Boys."

Freed was eventually tracked after months of investigation by anti-terrorist squad officers who found her DNA on the letters.

The court heard that when police raided her home on May 3 they found a "kit" of scissors, glue, Sellotape and some stamped letters which had not yet been posted.

She was arrested along with a 64-year-old man who was later released without charge.

Freed was released on conditional bail, to appear at a Crown Court on a date to be fixed.

l Among the substances found in the packages sent by Freed were sodium chlorate, a herbicide which can be harmful if ingested or inhaled, and sodium chloride. Boron can be harmful if inhaled or swallowed.