A PARANOID schizophrenic has admitted sending letter bombs to 15 homes and businesses, injuring several people in a terror campaign which lasted more than two months.

Glynn Harding, 27, chose victims in North and East Yorkshire and nationwide because he perceived them to have links with animal cruelty.

A pest controller, an estate agent dealing in livestock auctions, farm workers and even a fish and chip shop owner were selected.

At home in Crewe, Cheshire, he fitted battery-powered detonators to Jiffy bags filled with gunpowder and shrapnel like ball bearings and pins, and posted them to victims. One parcel was opened by a six-year-old girl, who suffered leg and feet shrapnel wounds.

The terror campaign began on December 15, when a bomb was sent to an agricultural supplier in Masham, North Yorkshire. It did not explode and no one was injured, but others were not so lucky.

In Patrington, East Yorkshire, an estate agent dealing in livestock auctions was hit in the eye when she opened a nail bomb letter.

On the same day, a 58-year-old farmer in Ripon suffered facial injuries when a package went off, showering him with nails.

Peter Walker, deputy chief constable of North Yorkshire Police, led Operation Packet to catch Harding. More than 100 detectives from ten forces were on the case.

Harding, now detained in a secure mental health unit, pleaded guilty at Chester Crown Court to 12 counts of sending explosive devices, three counts of causing bodily harm and one count of possessing gunpowder.

He will be sentenced on September 21.

Updated: 11:05 Saturday, July 28, 2001