The jury in the trial of a teenager accused of planning a repeat of the Columbine massacre by plotting a terror attack on his former school is deliberating its verdicts for a third day.
The 17-year-old, who cannot be named for legal reasons, is accused of stockpiling weapons for an assault on the school in Loughborough, Leicestershire, as well as naming a sixth form college, a local mosque, cinema and council offices as potential targets.
The Old Bailey heard that the boy allegedly wrote in a Che Guevara notebook emblazoned with swastikas his plans for “The New Columbine”. Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold murdered 12 students and one teacher at Columbine High School in Colorado in 1999 before killing themselves in one of America’s worst mass shootings.
The teenager, who has been diagnosed with Asperger’s syndrome since his arrest in February, denies a charge of possessing items for the purpose, preparation and instigation of an act of terrorism.
They include nine partially assembled petrol bombs, a quantity of commercial firework powder, a quantity of part assembled pipe bombs, partially constructed improvised explosive devices (IEDs), quantities of commercial pyrotechnic fuse cords, a stab-proof vest, a gas mask, three 0.22 air rifles, one Olympic 0.22 blank-firing pistol and a quantity of ammunition, one 0.22 air pistol, three BB guns, a black military belt containing air gun pellets and a silver cartridge, and one note book containing information about the planning and construction of explosive devices, it is alleged.
The boy also denies one count of possessing a document or record – the Mujahideen Poisons Handbook – which contained information likely to be useful for a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism.
During the six-week trial, he pleaded guilty to one count of possessing explosives in the form of component parts of IEDs, a court official confirmed.
The defendant and two other 17-year-old boys have also pleaded guilty to two charges of possessing petrol bombs and component parts of pipe bombs for the use of explosive devices.