Minutes before I was to meet Drew Pavlou, the Australian university student accused of sending an email threatening to blow up the Chinese embassy in London in July, I got a text from him: ‘Hey can we meet at kings cross’. I knew his train was arriving at St Pancras, where I was waiting, but he sounded confused. Another text popped up on my screen: ‘I’ve been having difficulty getting around’. I quickly reassured him that King’s Cross and St Pancras stations abut each other, so there was no need to worry.

Pavlou, twenty-three, was in the UK capital to attend a bail hearing in relation to an alleged bomb threat. He insists he is innocent and the victim of a setup. Given that China is at the centre of the allegations against him, the suggestion is that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) was somehow behind the fake bomb threat.

• Tags: Australia, China, Drew Pavlou, Issue 29, Minh Bui Jones