A boy with an “unhealthy interest” in explosives and right wing politics made gunpowder and nailbombs with chemicals bought from his mother’s eBay account.
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.
Update: See also Tamworth Herald, 1 July 2010