Solicitor 'injected food with blood at Sainsbury's, Tesco and Waitrose', court told

A solicitor injected syringes filled with his own blood into food at Sainsbury's, Tesco and Waitrose because he thought life was fake and wanted to contact the 'real police', a court heard.

Leoaai Elghareeb, 37, believed the world mirrors the Jim Carey film The Truman Show, jurors were told.

A judge heard stores were forced to destroy affected products and restock before reopening days later, reports The Mirror.

READ MORE:

It led to costs of £207,000 for Waitrose, £143,000 for Sainsbury's and £117,000 for Tesco - a total of £467,000, the court was told.

Elghareeb, jurors heard, believed there was an implant in his brain and he was being monitored by MI5, so allegedly carried out the injections to alert the 'real police'.

He regularly used crystal meth and self-medicated for his mental health problems, Isleworth Crown Court heard.

Elghareeb denies three counts of contaminating food and two counts of assault by beating by reason of insanity.

He is accused of carrying a black bucket of syringes, some of which had needles attached, and throwing them at people outside and inside a Waitrose, Tesco and Sainsbury's in Fulham, west London, on August 25 last year.

CCTV footage - which was shown to jurors - captured him injecting syringes into apples, packets of chicken tikka fillets and ready meals, the court heard.

In Sainsbury's he also threw eggs and swore at staff and customers, the court heard.

In the same store, he is also accused of pushing a security guard in the chest and outside on the road, throwing an empty syringe at an NHS surgeon.

A total of 21 syringes were recovered, jurors were told.

Dr Bradley Hillier, a psychiatrist and consultant in mental health to the United Nations, said in evidence he believed Elghareeb,