'Fantasist' ex-TA soldier jailed for making bombs in bedroom

12 April 2012

A "misguided fantasist" who built makeshift bombs in his bedroom was jailed for two years today.

Justin Cartwright, 38, from Lancashire, made crude explosive devices and downloaded three terrorist training manuals.

He was said to have an "unhealthy interest" in the military.

But Preston crown court heard the former Territorial Army member wanted to stop terrorists, and hoped to start a business training security officers to deal with extremists.

A firework containing a lightbulb, a plastic shell attached to a nine volt battery, an electrified wooden clothes peg, and a tub of aluminium powder were all found when officers searched his house in April last year. A polystyrene block painted black, which was designed to contain mercury, was also discovered.

The device was "highly foolish, highly reckless and a possible source of injury", David Farrell QC, prosecuting, told the court.

The Army was called to evacuate his house, which he shares with his parents, and that of his neighbours.

Cartwright was arrested and bailed two months later, but was held again in October when police found more devices at his house, although they had missed these in the original search.

Mr Farrell told the court the defendant was "a fantasist": "What he was proposing was out of touch with reality. It had no place in the real world of close protection training. It was his fantasy world feeding his fascination with the military."

Cartwright admitted five counts of making explosives, one count of possessing explosives and three counts of owning information useful to terrorism.

Sentencing, Judge Anthony Russell told Cartwright: "The devices could have been used for some form of terrorist act and could have caused some harm and fear.

"You made them in your own home with no proper safeguarding for your family or the public."

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in