A York man was appearing in court this afternoon charged with attempting to blackmail the soft-drinks company Britvic, police said.

Paul Bovingdon, 49, of Lynwood View, Copmanthorpe, near York, is accused of sending letters and making threatening phone calls to the company. Bovingdon, a regional security manager for Bass Brewers, was appearing before Chelmsford Magistrates' Court, said an Essex Police spokesman.

A second man, arrested on Tuesday night, was still being questioned.

As revealed in yesterday's Evening Press, two men, aged 49 and 37, were arrested after the Chelmsford-based company was told its products would be contaminated unless it paid an undisclosed amount of money.

Britvic managing director, Stephen Davies, said he first received a letter addressed to him on March 31, containing the threat. After alerting police, a month-long investigation ended in the arrest of two men at a remote spot near Tadcaster on Tuesday night.

Mr Davies said the company, which employs 3,000 people nationwide, received letters and telephone calls over a month-long period threatening to contaminate the drinks.

Det Supt David Bright, of Essex police, said up to 150 officers were involved in a surveillance operation leading up to the arrests in Yorkshire.

Bass Breweries spokesperson Lesley Allman said today that Bovingdon, an employee of Bass Breweries, based at the Tadcaster Brewery, had been suspended while a company and police investigation was undertaken.

"The matter is being dealt with by the police with the co-operation of Britvic Soft Drinks and it would be inappropriate to comment further a this stage."

Britvic is the country's second largest drinks manufacturer and produces products including Tango and Robinsons soft drinks.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.