Letter bomber gets nine years

Letter bomber gets nine years

CANBERRA (AP): A disgruntled former tax worker who spread terror through Australia when he mailed letter bombs to former colleagues and an equal opportunities commission was jailed on Wednesday for nine years.

Colin George Dunstan, 44, was convicted at an earlier hearing of posting 28 bombs packed into plastic computer disc cases in late 1998. Only one exploded, slightly injuring a postal worker in Canberra, the capital.

Dunstan's campaign followed a dispute with tax officials and the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission over a failed affair with a co-worker.

Doctors said he was profoundly depressed and suicidal at the time.

Dunstan claimed the devices were not meant to work but army explosives experts said they would explode on opening and could kill or cause serious injury.