Young, 53, has been jailed for eight years after admitting blackmail

Mr Bowman lost £120,000 in stock even though threat was just a hoax

He claimed he had contaminated some of his pumpkins and demanded Bitcoin ransom to spare the rest

His farm produces half the UK’s supply of pumpkins.

But David Bowman feared his livelihood would be destroyed after he was blackmailed by a former soldier who threatened to poison his entire crop with cyanide.

Michael Young, 53, wrote to the farmer, saying he had contaminated some of his pumpkins and would destroy them all if he did not pay £50,000 within seven days.

Threat: Pumpkin farmer David Bowman feared he would lose his stock after being blackmailed

‘You are about to become famous for all the wrong reasons,’ he told Mr Bowman, whose family have worked the land in Spalding, Lincolnshire, for five generations.

Young asked for payment in Bitcoin – an online currency often used to carry out illicit activities online.

Terrified of losing his whole crop, Mr Bowman, 67, reported the incident to police and was told by the Foods Standards Agency to plough the field concerned.

In the process, he lost £120,000 of stock. Yet when the pumpkins were tested, it emerged that they had merely been injected with water.

Stuart Lody, prosecuting, told Lincoln Crown Court that Young launched his campaign of harassment after accusing Mr Bowman of using cheap Eastern European workers.

Mr Lody said: ‘The defendant sent photographs of pumpkins being injected with a substance and articles about potassium cyanide obtained from the internet.

‘A letter said that the pumpkin crop had been selectively poisoned and warned Mr Bowman not to attempt to harvest or sell a single pumpkin until the blackmailer’s demands were fully met.’

Terror: Mr Bowman had to destroy £120,000 of pumpkins because he thought they were contaminated

In a threatening message to Mr Bowman, who produces 2.5million pumpkins a year, Young wrote: ‘You will go down in history as the farmer who introduced potassium cyanide into the UK food chain.’

Young initially told police the threats were the work of Eastern Europeans who had access to his computer.

Mr Bowman, who has undergone a tripe heart bypass, told the court: ‘I’ve had sleepless nights worrying how this callous and malicious crime will impact my business. I’m appalled and sickened by the slur that I exploit migrant workers for my own gain.

‘I pay them a good wage and many return each year for the harvest.’

Young, who admitted blackmail and possession of drugs with intent to supply, was jailed for eight years.

Michael Cramner-Brown, defending, said his client knew he had ‘done wrong’ and was in ‘dire financial straits’ at the time of the offence. He added: ‘He is extremely sorry. There was, in fact, no actual contamination of any of the crop. Water was the only matter that had been injected.’