Rotherham man denies plotting terrorist bomb

Nicholas Roddis (27) was given seven years in 2008 after he gathered ingredients for a home made bomb and caused a huge security alert by leaving a hoax device on a bus.

He was released in January 2011 and within months he was scouring public libraries for details of the explosives that were used in the 2005 London bombings.

Roddis even posed as a railwayman to steal detonators from a driver’s cab, the Old Bailey heard.

The terrorist wore a false beard and moustache when he planted the hoax bomb on the bus in Rotherham in 2007.

Within the device was a piece paper with Arabic writing, which stated: “There is no God but Allah and Mohammed is the messenger of Allah. God is great, God is Great, God is great.

It added: “Britain must be punished” and was signed “Al-Qaeda Organisation of Iraq.”

The bomb was covered in brown paper and contained a cheap alarm clock, wires and nails.

When Roddis’s home was searched, police found bomb making recipes and hydrogen peroxide and acetone, two ingredients for an explosive.

There were also railway detonators, shopping lists and bomb making recipes.

Roddis was released on licence on condition he could not use any computer to access the internet.

But by August 2011, he was using false names to research the same explosives on library computers.

“He used computers in public libraries to access the internet to conduct research on search engines and view video clips on YouTube which were concerned with the manufacture of explosives,” said prosecutor Mr Duncan Penny.

“He used deception to gain access to the computers, assuming a number of false names in order to maintain access to the internet on the computers which are available to members of the public in the libraries in that area, in the knowledge that he was prohibited by the condition so his release on licence from accessing the internet.

“He disguised himself as a railway worker and stole various items from the cab of a freight locomotive in a goods yard in Doncaster, including the key to the locomotive and a quantity of small explosive devices known as railway detonators or fog signals.”

Roddis claimed the notes he had made, including a Halfords shopping list which required bomb making equipment such as thermometers and stirring rods was just part of his instructions for his lawyers.

He accepted in the past he had stolen railway detonators, but said he liked to set off small explosions “for his amusement.”

Roddis, from Rotherham, denies engaging in conduct in preparation for giving effect to his intention to commit acts of terrorism

The trial continues.