Ryan McGee, 20, is sentenced to two years after he packed 181 metal screws and bits of glass into an explosive device
A rifleman obsessed with far-right politics has been jailed for two years after making a nail bomb in his bedroom.
Ryan McGee, 20, made a device packed with 181 metal screws and bits of glass designed to maximise the amount of damage when it detonated.
Police found the bomb while carrying out a raid on his three-bedroom family home in Eccles, Manchester, on an unrelated matter last November.
The Old Bailey heard McGee was interested in the English Defence League and had watched a video of men being bound and executed under a swastika flag.
The loner had earlier admitted buying the Anarchist Cookbook as well as making the nail bomb.
Recorder of London Brian Barker said: "The fact of the matter is any explosive device in the wrong hands could cause untold misery to anyone on the receiving end.
"Sadly, we live in a violent age. Let's be quite clear that any experimentation by anybody with these kinds of weapons must lead to severe sentences.
"What you have lost is your reputation and your future but I hope in due course you can make amends for that."
Prosecutor Roger Smart accepted McGee was not a terrorist and did not intend to help a terrorist group.
He said: "[McGee] surfed the internet, he bought supplies, and he watched videos and read books about how to make explosive devices."
At the time of his arrest, McGee was serving with Bravo Company of the 5th Battalion the Rifles, before being deployed to barracks in Germany.
Mr Smart said McGee was not an EDL member, but had attended one of their marches, displayed the "No Surrender" insignia flag and an EDL t-shirt and jumper - all of which had been bought for him by his mother for his 18th birthday.
He also kept a journal entitled Ryan's Story Book, with stickers of Scooby Doo and birds on the front and drawings of guns, machetes and paramilitary soldiers inside.
It also contained references to right-wing groups including the National Front, KKK and BNP, the court heard.
When interviewed by police, McGee said he made the bomb "out of boredom" and claimed he was interested in right-wing politics because he disliked mass immigration.
Antony Chinn QC, defending, said: "Although he accepts he made the device, he never intended to put it to any violent purpose."
The judge sentenced McGee to 12 months in jail for a charge of possessing a document containing information likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism between 31 May 2013 and 29 November 2013.
He was further jailed for 24 months for a second charge between 1 September 2013 and 3 September 2013 in Salford he made an explosive device. The sentences will run concurrently.
Sky News
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