A British millionaire was on Thursday jailed for 10 years for selling fake bomb detectors to the Iraqi government and other countries, by a judge who told him he had blood on his hands.
James McCormick made an estimated £50 million ($76 million, 59 million euros) from selling the devices, which prosecutors said were based on a novelty golf ball finder and had no scientific basis.
Last week, a jury at London ‘s Old Bailey found the 57-year-old guilty of three counts of fraud.
Passing sentence at the court on Thursday, judge Richard Hone said McCormick’s “callous confidence trick” had likely cost lives.
McCormick is believed to have made around £37 million from sales to Iraq alone, although other customers included Georgia , Niger , Belgium and even the United Nations, for use in Lebanon .
The businessman, from Somerset in southwest England , told the court he had also sold detectors to the Egyptian army, Kenyan police, Hong Kong ‘s prison service and Thai border control.