Man cleared over bomb hoax near US embassy

The US embassy building in Nine Elms went into lockdown, the Old Bailey heard

A man who left a fake explosive device in an alleyway near the US Embassy in London has been cleared of making a hoax bomb threat.

During the trial Daniel Parmenter, 44, described an iPad with taped down firework wires he left in the alley as "sophisticated graffiti art" which had been intended as a "gift" in November 2024.

The embassy went into lockdown and local roads were closed as bomb disposal experts carried out a controlled explosion.

Following a trial at the Old Bailey, the defendant, from Bayswater, west London, was found not guilty of placing an article with intent.

The verdict was delivered in Mr Parmenter's absence in the dock as he had "misunderstood" and gone home earlier on Thursday after the jury retired.

His barrister Rabah Kherbane told the court that he had spoken to his client who had been on bail and was cycling back to court.

He said: "He completely misunderstood. He is riding back as quickly as he can. I can hear the wind in his earphones. He did sound genuinely shocked on the phone."

He denied intending to cause alarm and claimed that staff at the embassy would recognise it was not an explosive device.

The trial heard that the defendant had left a drum, some photo frames, and a large metal tray with writing and a skull and crossbones on it.

Along with the fake IED there was a book of poetry in a frame, and another red picture frame containing tools and a first aid kit.

A box of dates was also found with the words "do not x-ray, please inspect. Radiation. Hazard", together with a copy of the Daily Telegraph.

Prosecutor Lucy Organ said Mr Parmenter built one of the items to look like an "improvised explosive device".

'Artwork and music'

Giving evidence in court Mr Parmenter claimed he had worked on the Apple iWatch designs and a member of his family had been employed at the GCHQ code-breaking centre at Bletchley Park.

But a clinical psychologist who assessed Mr Parmenter on two occasions told the court he had Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD).

Dr Anna Preston said people with ASD can have problems predicting "what people will think when presented with something".

People with ASD can also have a problem with introspection, she said, adding: "They wouldn't know how they're coming across."

Dr Preston said Mr Parmenter gave her an account of what the items meant and what they represented "which was a gift, artwork, commemoration".

"What I picked up quite strongly was his special interest, a combination of linked topics. Not necessarily the US Embassy as such, it's cybernetic and issues to do with surveillance, artwork and music. What I think was then represented in the items."

CCTV led to the identification and arrest of Mr Parmenter two days later.

He admitted leaving the items but denied it was a bomb hoax or that he meant any harm.

He told police: "I presume this is about the framed toolkit that my dad produced and I dropped round as a gift for the US Navy.

"It is basically a form of slightly sophisticated graffiti art of the non-vandal type."