A SIMPLE, 10-minute wait in a doctor's surgery could have been the trigger for Robert Dyer's bombing campaign.

As he waited to see his GP he flicked through the pages of old magazines lying around the waiting room.

And he came across an article about notorious blackmailer Rodney Whitchelo, responsible for contaminating baby food and other products in the late 1980s.

Dorchester Crown Court was told yesterday that Dyer considered blackmail "the perfect crime" after reading the article in an edition of Reader's Digest.

And he set about planning his own version in a bid to make unlimited sums of cash.

Whitchelo was a serving police officer when he started his campaign, mainly aimed at Heinz.

He put broken razor blades into baby food which was later eaten by an infant.

In 1988 Whitchelo was jailed for a total of 17 years and Dyer's barrister, Richard Onslow, was at pains to point out the differences between the cases.

He claimed Dyer's offences were far less serious but saw his client receive a sentence just one year less than Whitchelo.

During the blackmail campaign Dyer communicated with the police through the pages of the Daily Echo.

And police praised staff at the newspaper for their co-operation.

Detective Chief Inspector Phil James said: "Dorset Police would like to place on record their thanks for the assistance provided by the Daily Echo."

Dorset Police also received praise from the judge for solving the biggest case in the force's history.

DCI James and his team were told: "The officers involved deserve the highest praise for their efforts.

"Dorset Police is to be congratulated on the time and effort it has put in to investigate this case."

Police were first alerted in August last year when blackmail demands were received by Tesco.

Dyer threatened to send bombs to Tesco customers in the Bournemouth, Poole and Ferndown areas.

In September a package sent to an elderly couple in Ferndown exploded and more devices were intercepted in a Poole sorting office.

Three months later a threatening letter warned of a bomb in a garden in Ferndown, prompting a two-day search involving 100 police officers and the Army. Dyer later said no device had been hidden.

He was eventually arrested in February after being filmed posting a blackmail letter at a post box in Castle Lane West.

Dyer, the father of two young girls, first hit the headlines in 1993 following the mysterious death of his wife, Erika.

He suffered a heart attack as 31-year-old Erika strangled herself with a ligature, an inquest was told. An open verdict was recorded.