A FORMER teacher accused of carrying out a ‘Novichok’ hoax at Pembroke Castle, has appeared at The Old Bailey on Friday, (Jul 24) for the first stage of court proceedings.
Sixty-six-year-old John Ap Evans, is accused of placing bottles of a hoax noxious substance in caverns at Pembroke Castle five times during July 2018.
Two bottles labelled with “Novichok” were found in Wogans Cavern at Pembroke Castle a couple of months after the poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal from Salisbury, England in March 2018.
The discovery caused panic and resulted in The Castle being evacuated.
More were placed later in the month before police set up a covert camera.
Evans, who gave his address as Northgate Street, Pembroke, previously appeared at Westminster Magistrates’ Court earlier this Month, where he denied the charges and told the court he wanted to appear at Crown Court to “explain to the judge what happened”.
Evans’ appearance at The Old Bailey laid out the next stage of proceedings, where he will appear again on October 12, for a plea and trial preparation hearing.
The trial is expected to start on February 1, 2021.
