Police found a pipe packed with nails and screws and charged with powder in the 16 year old’s bedroom, and a pipe with a firework inside hidden under a waste oil tank at a nearby petrol station.
The youngster also had literature from the right wing groups the British National Party and the English Defence League, together with Nazi emblems.
Officers were tipped off by the eBay seller who was concerned about the commodities being bought. The family's house in Tamworth, Staffs, was immediately evacuated while explosives and firearms experts searched the property for three days.
They found the device, loaded with nails, in his bedroom. It was examined by the Defence Laboratory and found to be capable of producing a "lethal shot". Two days later they found the device with a firework inside.
Stafford Crown Court heard internet conversations from a chat room dedicated to explosives and firearms had been found on a computer in the house.
Malcolm Morse, prosecuting, added that the mother of one of the boy's friends had handed in a video clip from a mobile phone camera showing an explosive device being detonated in a tree. The clip was labelled with the boy’s name and claiming ownership of the device.
The boy, who cannot be named, admitted possessing a firearm without a certificate – the only charge that could be applied to the device found in his bedroom, said Mr Morse. He also admitted having an explosive substance and making an explosive substance.
Judge John Wait made the boy subject to a three year controlling order for public safety. He told him he was a danger to the public and added that he found it hard to believe that his parents had let him carry on making explosive substances and not seen the danger of the combination with extreme politics.
Defending, Darron Whitehead, said: "It would be very easy to simply infer that this young man is a terrorist with hidden agendas. They don't exist in this case.
"There was never at any time, any positive intention to make any aggressive use of the items strewn about his bedroom.
"There is nothing in this case to suggest there was any intention to cause harm to human life."
He said the boy’s interest began with fireworks before developing into a wider interest in pyrotechnics.
Mr Whitehead said the boy’s parents and his neighbours all knew about his interests and were not concerned about him.
One of the boy’s friends, Jason Cunningham, 27, from Tamworth, admitted making an explosive substance and perverting the course of justice. He was jailed for 12 months.
The Telegraph
