US:BRUCE IVINS, the chief suspect in the 2001 anthrax attacks, was a "sociopathic, homicidal killer" who planned to kill his co-workers because he was about to be indicted on capital murder charges, a Maryland court was warned shortly before Mr Ivins committed suicide last week.
Jean Carol Duley, a psychotherapist who had treated Mr Ivins for six months, told the court on July 24th that the microbiologist had purchased a bulletproof vest and gun, and boasted of roaming the streets hoping to stab someone.
Mr Ivins claimed during therapy sessions that he had "attempted to murder several people" using poison, as long ago as 2000, Ms Duley testified in an audio recording of the hearing.
She described Mr Ivins as a "revenge killer" who seemed especially sensitive to perceived slights from women.
Bruce Ivins (62), an anthrax researcher at the army's main biodefense laboratory, took an overdose and died last Tuesday after he was advised that the FBI planned to charge him with producing the powdery anthrax spores used in the worst bioterrorist attack in America's history.
Ms Duley (45), programme director for the Frederick County psychiatric centre, asked the court for a protective order on the day she testified because Mr Ivins was being released from a psychiatric hospital. She said she feared the scientist would come after her because she had co-operated with the FBI and police.
Judge Milnor Roberts issued the protective order and scheduled another hearing for July 30th.
Ms Duley said Mr Ivins's behaviour had grown more alarming in recent weeks.
On July 9th, she said, he showed up for a group session extremely agitated and out of control. She said he had bought a bulletproof vest and gun. "He proceeded to describe to the group a very long and detailed homicidal plan . . . to kill his co-workers because he was about to be indicted on capital murder charges," she added.
Ms Duley said several psychiatrists who treated Mr Ivins had diagnosed him as a sociopathic, homicidal killer. Through her therapy sessions, she added, "I also believe that to be true."
Ms Duley told the court that she contacted Mr Ivins's lawyers and police after the group session.
Police quickly escorted Mr Ivins from his workplace in the US Army Medical Institute of Infectious Diseases at Fort Detrick, where he specialised in trying to develop vaccines in the bacteriology division.
The 2001 anthrax attacks, just weeks after September 11th, further traumatised the nation. Anthrax-laced letters mailed from a New Jersey post box ultimately killed five people, crippled mail delivery for months, shut down the Senate office building, and cost an estimated $25 billion in decontamination.
One of the letters was addressed to then-Senate majority leader Tom Daschle. Mr Daschle said on Fox News Sunday that he was not convinced Mr Ivins was the sole culprit, but admitted that the FBI had not briefed him on their evidence.
Mr Daschle said he had "real concerns about the quality of the investigation", especially after the government agreed last month to pay $5.8 million (€3.7 million) in an out-of-court settlement to Steven Hatfill, another Fort Detrick researcher whom authorities initially identified as a "person of interest".
Tom Ridge, who was President Bush's secretary of homeland security during the attacks, said he had not been briefed either. But he defended the FBI on ABC's This Week. "I know that they were relentless, relentless, both domestically and overseas," he said. - ( LA Times-Washington Post service)