A Blackburn councillor is at the centre of a police investigation after becoming the recipient of a suspect package, together with a journalist in Glasgow. The councillor, who has not been named, is a member of Blackburn with Darwen Council. The packages are thought to have been sent from the Greater Manchester area and, in the case of the councillor's parcel, it was intercepted at a sorting office and never reached the town hall. But Graham Burgess, chief executive of Blackburn with Darwen Council, said: ‘As a result of information from the police, a warning was sent to all staff as a precaution to encourage them to take great care with unopened post.' Each parcel contained a letter and a miniature spirit bottle filled with a liquid with a high concentration of the corrosive substance, caustic soda. Contact with concentrated caustic soda can cause blindness and severe chemical burns to the skin.
