Terrorism trial told of library bomb research

Nicholas Roddis, 27, used computers at libraries in South Yorkshire and used false names to access sites on making improvised explosive devices, jurors heard.

Roddis, of Maltby, Rotherham, denies engaging in acts for the preparation of terrorism.

Duncan Penny, prosecuting at the Old Bailey, said Roddis was jailed in 2008 for seven years for the hoax and for preparing for terrorism.

Wearing a false beard and glasses, he left a hoax bomb on a bus in Rotherham. Chemicals and instructions for bombs were found at his home.

For a year before the incident in May 2007, he developed a “close interest” in extremist Islamic activity and violence, said Mr Penny.

After his release in January 2011 he went back to his interest in terrorism, it was alleged.

He tried to get round a ban on using the internet, a condition of his parole, by accessing computers in local libraries.

Mr Penny said: “He made notes concerning the production of improvised explosives and about other plans connected with acts of terrorism which he apparently intended.

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

In November 2011, police searched his garden shed and found railway detonators and correspondence with local libraries, the court heard.

The trial was adjourned until today.