A JUDGE has warned a Padiham man who created two home-made bombs as ‘self-defence’ devices that he could have caused very serious injuries if they had fallen into the wrong hands.

But Judge Beverley Lunt insisted Lee Terrell, 30, had no terrorist leanings after the two IEDs (improvised explosive devices) were discovered at his former home in Ingham Street.

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Terrell claimed to police that he had been the subject of a number of threats and had built the pipe bombs, which were packed with coins and pellets, to protect himself, Burnley Crown Court was told.

Paul Brookwell, prosecuting, said the devices were discovered after the defendant had moved out of his rented terraced house last July by Noreen Birmingham, his landlord’s mother, who had been cleaning the property.

She immediately took the items, which she found in a cupboard, to the police and Terrell was arrested.

He told a probation officer that he had gone to a fireworks shop, where he had bought two Proton Bomb model fireworks, the court heard.

Once back home he disassembled the grenade element of the firework before rebuilding it packed with two pence and one pence pieces, and small round pellets.

Mr Brookwell said: “Clearly with these being commercial fireworks, if they had exploded they would cause significant harm.”

Jailing him for two years, Judge Lunt said: “You yourself called it a ‘frag grenade’ and you made not just one but two. That is serious.

“You made them intending to use them. There can have been no threat which could have justified your action.

“I make it clear for the record that this is no act of terrorism, this has got nothing to do with terrorism, but you made these extremely dangerous weapons.

“It is almost an aggravating feature of the case that you then forgot about them and left them in the house. If they had fallen into the wrong hands then they are potentially very dangerous.”

Richard Taylor, defending, said his client, who had endured worsening mental health problems in recent times, had informed police about those who had been making threats against him.

The defendant accepted he would be receiving a prison sentence but had been “very frank” with both the police and probation service, and he had suffered genuine concerns for his own safety, Mr Taylor added.

Terrell, who had previous convictions for assault and possession of an offensive weapon, pleaded guilty to two charges of making an explosive substances on or before July 10 last year.