London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Thursday, Oct 16, 2025

BitCoin blackmailer who threatened to blow up NHS hospital sentenced

BitCoin blackmailer who threatened to blow up NHS hospital sentenced

A Dark Web blackmailer who threatened to blow up a British hospital at the start of the pandemic if a £10 million BitCoin ransom was not paid has been sentenced to three years in prison.

Emil Apreda, a 33-year-old Italian national living in Germany, posed as a member of neo-Nazi group Combat 18, sending a string of emails claiming he would plant a bomb in one of Britain’s hospitals.

In messages to NHS and the National Crime Agency using an alias, he demanded the £10 million BitCoin ransom between April and June last year, as hospitals were stretched to breaking point by the coronavirus pandemic.

As law enforcement agencies around Europe joined forced to try to trace him, Apreda threatened to target Black Lives Matters demonstrations and British MPs if his demands were not met.

He was eventually captured on June 15, a day before his time limit for paying the ransom was due to expire.

Apreda was put on trial in a German court, and today was convicted of attempted extortion and handed a three-year prison sentence.

Nigel Leary, the Deputy Director of the NCA’s National Cyber Crime Unit who led the manhunt for Apreda, said the bomb threats posed a real threat to the live of hospital patients, even though Apreda did not actually plant a bomb.

“We recognised the NHS during the first national lockdown was at full tilt keeping us as safe as we could be”, he said.

“A mere phone call into the NHS making a threat at this time could have resulted in loss of life.


“Not a threat to life but actual loss of life, as it was impossible to evacuate someone when they needed use of a ventilator to keep them alive.”

Apreda adopted the far right ideology to issue the threats, targeting the British health service despite having no known links to the UK.

The computer expert, who is single and does not have children, sent 18 emails in total, using sophisticated encryption to hide his identity.

He evolved the threat following the death in the US of George Floyd, latching on to the Black Lives Matters protests as a new possible target.

The NCA said he widened the targeted to include MPs around the anniversary of the murder of Jo Cox.

Apreda’s electronic trail eventually led to his home in Berlin, and a raid was carried out in connection with Germany police on the eve of his deadline to detonate a bomb.

Investigations showed he had no access to explosives and is not a neo-Nazi, and is believed to have targeted the NHS due to its “vulnerability at the time”.

Tim Court, head of investigations at the NCA’s National Cyber Crime Unit, said: “This occurred in late April, early May. We had seen the collapse or near collapse of the Italian healthcare system under the pressure of the population attending hospitals and, sadly, in America we’d seen a significant rise in far-right extremist activity.

“In that context of a far-right surge, a worldwide pandemic and a vulnerable healthcare system that was valiantly fighting its own battles, we recognised we had to step in pretty quickly and make sure everything that could be done was done.”

Apreda was released on bail until the conviction has been ratified by the courts. The verdict is not immediately binding and can be appealed within a week under German law.

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Australia’s Wedgetail Spies Aid NATO Response as Russian MiGs Breach Estonian Airspace
McGowan Urges Chalmers to Cut Spending Over Tax Hike to Close $20 Billion Budget Gap
Victoria Orders Review of Transgender Prison Placement Amid Safety Concerns for Female Inmates
U.S. Treasury Mobilises New $20 Billion Debt Facility to Stabilise Argentina
French Business Leaders Decry Budget as Macron’s Pro-Enterprise Promise Undermined
Trump Claims Modi Pledged India Would End Russian Oil Imports Amid U.S. Tariff Pressure
Surging AI Startup Valuations Fuel Bubble Concerns Among Top Investors
Australian Punter Archie Wilson Tears Up During Nebraska Press Conference, Sparking Conversation on Male Vulnerability
Australia Confirms U.S. Access to Upgraded Submarine Shipyard Under AUKUS Deal
“Firepower” Promised for Ukraine as NATO Ministers Meet — But U.S. Tomahawks Remain Undecided
Brands Confront New Dilemma as Extremists Adopt Fashion Labels
The Sydney Sweeney and Jeans Storm: “The Outcome Surpassed Our Wildest Dreams”
Erika Kirk Delivers Moving Tribute at White House as Trump Awards Charlie Presidential Medal of Freedom
British Food Influencer ‘Big John’ Detained in Australia After Visa Dispute
ScamBodia: The Chinese Fraud Empire Shielded by Cambodia’s Ruling Elite
French PM Suspends Macron’s Pension Reform Until After 2027 in Bid to Stabilize Government
Orange, Bouygues and Free Make €17 Billion Bid for Drahi’s Altice France Telecom Assets
Dutch Government Seizes Chipmaker After U.S. Presses for Removal of Chinese CEO
Bessent Accuses China of Dragging Down Global Economy Amid New Trade Curbs
U.S. Revokes Visas of Foreign Nationals Who ‘Celebrated’ Charlie Kirk’s Assassination
AI and Cybersecurity at Forefront as GITEX Global 2025 Kicks Off in Dubai
DJI Loses Appeal to Remove Pentagon’s ‘Chinese Military Company’ Label
EU Deploys New Biometric Entry/Exit System: What Non-EU Travelers Must Know
Australian Prime Minister’s Private Number Exposed Through AI Contact Scraper
Ex-Microsoft Engineer Confirms Famous Windows XP Key Was Leaked Corporate License, Not a Hack
China’s lesson for the US: it takes more than chips to win the AI race
Australia Faces Demographic Risk as Fertility Falls to Record Low
California County Reinstates Mask Mandate in Health Facilities as Respiratory Illness Risk Rises
Israel and Hamas Agree to First Phase of Trump-Brokered Gaza Truce, Hostages to Be Freed
French Political Turmoil Elevates Marine Le Pen as Rassemblement National Poised for Power
China Unveils Sweeping Rare Earth Export Controls to Shield ‘National Security’
The Davos Set in Decline: Why the World Economic Forum’s Power Must Be Challenged
France: Less Than a Month After His Appointment, the New French Prime Minister Resigns
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán stated that Hungary will not adopt the euro because the European Union is falling apart.
Sarah Mullally Becomes First Woman Appointed Archbishop of Canterbury
Mayor in western Germany in intensive care after stabbing
Australian government pays Deloitte nearly half a million dollars for a report built on fabricated quotes, fake citations, and AI-generated nonsense.
US Prosecutors Gained Legal Approval to Hack Telegram Servers
Macron Faces Intensifying Pressure to Resign or Trigger New Elections Amid France’s Political Turmoil
Standard Chartered Names Roberto Hoornweg as Sole Head of Corporate & Investment Banking
UK Asylum Housing Firm Faces Backlash Over £187 Million Profits and Poor Living Conditions
UK Police Crack Major Gang in Smuggling of up to 40,000 Stolen Phones to China
BYD’s UK Sales Soar Nearly Nine-Fold, Making Britain Its Biggest Market Outside China
Trump Proposes Farm Bailout from Tariff Revenues Amid Backlash from Other Industries
FIFA Accuses Malaysia of Forging Citizenship Documents, Suspends Seven Footballers
Latvia to Bar Tourist and Occasional Buses to Russia and Belarus Until 2026
A Dollar Coin Featuring Trump’s Portrait Expected to Be Issued Next Year
Australia Orders X to Block Murder Videos, Citing Online Safety and Public Exposure
Three Scientists Awarded Nobel Prize in Medicine for Discovery of Immune Self-Tolerance Mechanism
OpenAI and AMD Forge Landmark AI-Chip Alliance with Equity Option
×