Hotel migrant who staged bomb hoax when he was refused asylum will be thrown out the country

A hotel migrant who planted a fake stick of dynamite outside MI5 headquarters to protest against not being given asylum will be thrown out of the country after he completes a two and a half year jail sentence.

Brazilian Julian Valente Pereira, 33, sent the secret service HQ into full security lockdown when he left the ‘brown cylindrical object with string attached’ outside Thames House, Millbank, on 1 January.

He was caught on CCTV trying to stick a 30-page document against the door of the building, saying not granting him immediate asylum was ‘psychological torture.’

As security officers moved in Pereira then pulled out the ‘dynamite.’

The incident caused large-scale disruption with roads closed around the building.

He told police that the stick of dynamite was meant as a ‘powerful metaphor, in that the news inside was dynamite.’

The Brazilian, who was also in possession of a lighter, was convicted of carrying out a bomb hoax by placing an article with intent at City of London Magistrates’ Court last month.

He appeared in the dock of the Old Bailey for sentence wearing a blue puffer jacket and clutching a Bible.

Pereira was seen praying as the hearing began, and spoke only to confirm his name.

The judge, the Recorder of London Mark Lucraft, said: ‘As a result of your actions, a bomb threat was reported to the emergency services.’

But the device was later discovered to ‘consist of A4 paper rolled into a tube with brown parcel tape…a length of string was protruding from one end.’

The judge said when Pereira was arrested he offered himself to be handcuffed and said: ‘I’m so sorry.’

He added: ‘You said that if you don’t get enough attention, MI5 would not look into the problems with the asylum system that you wanted to bring to their attention.

‘You said you had to catch attention, and the item was designed to look dangerous.

‘You expressed dismay at those you perceive as less deserving than you, having been granted asylum, and yet when it is your turn, you are turned away in the interests of justice.’

Pereira said during his interview: ‘One million Muslims granted asylum here after the World Trade Centre and the Iraq War, no one cares. But when Julian goes to seek asylum, it is [in] the interest of the public.’

He also said there was ‘no harm’ in someone thinking the device was a bomb as ‘they can just run away’, saying it ‘only looked like a dynamite or a firework, and not a C-4 military-style bomb.’

Just three hours before he planted the fake bomb messages found on his phone showed he had vowed to ‘go to Buckingham Palace with a knife and pen drive and demand to speak to the King.’

He said he would throw the bag inside Buckingham Palace and shout: ‘This is just the beginning.”’

Pereira said he would stand in front of Buckingham Palace, giving information to the ‘the Bishop of Canterbury’ and kneeling in prayer in Templar clothes costume.’

Pereira previously wore a Knights Templar crusader hoodie with mock armour on his sleeves throughout his trial at the magistrates’ court.

Islam Khan, defending, said Pereira asked him to tell the judge how foolish and ashamed he is.

‘A lot of things were happening at the time, and he could not cope. His asylum, personal grudges, and, of course, his mental condition, and the accommodation he stayed in.

‘This all led to what he did in January 2026.’

A court-ordered psychiatric report later shows Pereira to be ‘significantly mentally unwell at the time of this offence’ and was diagnosed with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.

Passing sentence Judge Lucraft said took into account Pereira’s health condition but he added: ‘As it would appear that all legitimate routes to seeking asylum have been exhausted in this case, it may well be the case that you will be deported from the UK either at this stage or at the conclusion of the sentence I have imposed on you.’