Pair cleared of explosions charge

A former British National Party election candidate and a dentist have been cleared of plotting explosions.

Former BNP candidate Robert Cottage, of Talbot Road, Colne, and David Jackson, of Trent Street, Nelson, were alleged to have stockpiled chemicals they bought on the internet and discussed using them to cause explosions. But they were cleared of conspiracy to cause explosions with intent to endanger life after a jury at Manchester Crown Court failed to reach a verdict.

It was the pair's second trial on the charge after the first jury was also discharged. Cottage had admitted possessing explosives for unlawful purpose at the first trial because he said he needed to defend himself as the country was heading to civil war. He was remanded in custody and will be sentenced on July 31.

Mr Jackson, who was also cleared of possessing explosives, walked free from Manchester Crown Court after more than 10 months on remand in prison. He refused to comment, except to say he was "very relieved" to have been cleared.

The trials are estimated to have cost the taxpayer more than £100,000.

Detective Superintendent Mick Gradwell, who led the investigation, denied that the trials had been waste of money, and said Cottage could have gone on to endanger himself and the public had he not been arrested. He paid tribute to Cottage's wife, Carina, who first alerted police and social workers to his "paranoid" behaviour over fears of an impending civil war.

Mr Gradwell said: "This came about because of the courage of Carina Cottage, who came forward to the health authority and the police to say she was concerned about her husband and could they help. He was becoming paranoid, stockpiling food and chemicals and it is because of her courage that a more serious incident did not occur. It's quite right that this was brought to court again. Cottage had admitted he was planning to make gunpowder. Someone else, or himself, could have been seriously hurt."

Mr Gradwell denied accusations that the case would have been handled differently if the defendants had been Asian, not white British men. He said: "This investigation was not from intelligence-led, proactive policing. It was Carina Cottage saying come and help me, and her husband stockpiling food because he thought there was going to be a civil war. These are totally different circumstances to any Islamic terror trials. When we found the explosive substances we also downloaded from a computer in the house recipes for making explosives. The fact that there were two trials is in a way a justification of bringing the case. If they had been acquitted in five minutes thing would have been different, but this has taken long consideration by two juries."

When Cottage admitted possessing explosives at his first trial in February, he said he planned to make gunpowder from the chemicals to cause thunder flashes to scare off intruders in the event of civil unrest.

Lancashire Evening Telegraph

Majority verdict allowed in BNP candidate bomb trial

The jury in the trial of two Lancashire men with British National Party connections accused of plotting to make bombs has been told that a majority verdict would be accepted.

Ex-BNP local election candidate Robert Cottage, 49, and dentist David Jackson, 62, are said to have stockpiled chemicals they bought on the internet and discussed using them to cause explosions intended to endanger life. Boxes containing 21 different kinds of chemicals - some paid for by Jackson - and ball-bearings that could have been used as shrapnel were found by police at Cottage's home in Talbot Street, Colne.

Officers were alerted to the stash by Cottage's wife, Kerena, 29, who became scared the pair were planning to set off test explosions with the chemicals in countryside near Preston.

Cottage feared immigrants were swamping Britain and bringing it to the brink of civil war, Manchester Crown Court heard.

The jury heard the thrice-failed local election candidate had printed off "recipes" for explosive devices from an online version of the Anarchist's Cookbook. Officers who raided his house also found tins of food, crossbows and airguns. Cottage told the jury he planned to use the chemicals to clean his false teeth, unblock his drains and protect himself against bird flu.

Jackson, who was not a BNP member but attended party meetings with Cottage, told the court he was apolitical and did not share his friend's views on an impending civil war.

Both Cottage and Jackson, of Trent Road, Nelson, Lancashire, deny conspiring to cause explosions intended to endanger life. Cottage pleaded guilty to possessing explosives that could "reasonably" be suspected to be for an unlawful purpose before the trial started. Jackson denies the possession charge.

Pendle Today

Jury out in explosives plot trial

The jury in the trial of a former British National Party election candidate and a dentist accused of plotting to make bombs has retired to consider its verdict.

Ex-BNP member Robert Cottage (49), of Talbot Street, Colne, and David Jackson (62), of Trent Road, Nelson, are said to have stockpiled chemicals they bought on the Internet and discussed using them to cause explosions.

Boxes containing 21 different kinds of chemicals - some paid for by Jackson - were found by police at Cottage's home last September. Officers were alerted to the stash by Cottage's wife, Kerena, who became scared the pair were planning to set off test explosions in countryside near Preston.

Cottage told Manchester Crown Court he feared immigrants were swamping Britain, bringing it to the brink of civil war.

The jury heard the thrice-failed local election candidate had printed off "recipes" for explosive devices from an online version of the Anarchists' Cookbook. Officers who raided his house also found tins of food, crossbows and airguns. His wife said he hoarded them to protect the couple in case civil unrest broke out. Cottage told the jury he planned to use the chemicals to clean his false teeth, unblock his drains and protect himself against bird flu.

Jackson, who was not a BNP member but attended party meetings with Cottage, told the court he was "apolitical" and did not share his friend's views on an impending civil war. He claimed he asked Cottage to buy him chemicals online because he wanted to pursue chemistry as a hobby and was too computer illiterate to order them himself.

Both Cottage and Jackson deny conspiring to cause explosions with intent to endanger life. The current jury heard that Cottage pleaded guilty to possessing explosives for an unlawful purpose at the pair's previous trial in February, which failed to reach a verdict.

Jackson denies the possession charge.

Burnley Express

Explosives recipes were 'just for interest'

A former British National Party candidate accused of plotting to make bombs from chemicals he bought on the Internet claimed today the substances were for cleaning his false teeth and unblocking drains.

Robert Cottage (49) told Manchester Crown Court he thought some of the other chemicals could be used to protect him from bird flu and purify water if supplies were cut off during civil unrest - two of his great fears. Cottage, a bus driver who transported disabled children, feared immigrants were swamping Britain and bringing it to the brink of civil war.

When his home in Colne was searched by police last September, 21 chemicals were found. Officers also discovered crossbows, air pistols, BB guns and ammunition, along with excessive amounts of rice, sugar and petrol.

Under cross-examination, Cottage said it was a coincidence he had bought chemicals just days after printing off recipes for explosive devices from the Internet. He told prosecutor Miss Louise Blackwell QC he downloaded the Anarchist Cookbook and printed off sections out of ``idle curiosity`` but could not explain why instructions for making a Molotov cocktail, a pipe hand grenade and dynamite were in his possession.

``I can't explain why I printed them off - I had no interest in making the devices, it was just for interest,'' he said.

Cottage told jurors he used an email address involving the phrase "brotherofenoch" as his views on immigration were close to those of Enoch Powell's. He said uncontrolled immigration frightened him but he was not racist.

Cottage and his co-defendant, dentist David Jackson (62), of Nelson, are charged with conspiring to cause explosions intended to endanger life.

The pair, who met at BNP meetings, are also charged with possession of
explosives for an unlawful purpose. Jackson denies this charge, but Cottage admitted it during their first trial in February at which a previous jury had failed to reach a verdict.

Today, Cottage told jurors he did not discuss making explosives from the
Anarchists' Cookbook with Jackson. ``I don't think he even knew the Anarchist Cookbook was in my possession,'' he said.

Cottage admitted buying a separate batch of chemicals on behalf of his friend, but said he did not know why he wanted them.

The case continues

Burnley Express

BNP men planned bombs for 'race war'

Two British National party members plotted to make bombs in readiness for a "civil war between races", a court was told yesterday.

A former candidate for the party stashed boxes of chemicals at his home after buying them online at the instruction of a local dentist and fellow BNP member, jurors at Manchester crown court heard. However, the hoard amassed by Robert Cottage, 49, of Colne, Lancashire, came to light when his wife told her social worker she was scared that Cottage and 62-year-old David Jackson were planning to test chemical weapons in the local countryside.

"He had just lost the plot - he just started acting really strange," Kerena Cottage, 29, told the court via videolink. "What he was saying - it sounded to me as if he was delusional."

Prosecutor Louise Blackwell QC told the jury Cottage had emailed orders for the chemicals, which could be combined to make crude bombs, in September 2006. Four months earlier, he had tried to win a seat on Colne council for the second time.

Ms Cottage said her husband had been very enthusiastic in the BNP, rising through the party's ranks during three years as a member and becoming a friend of its leader, Nick Griffin. Alarm bells began to ring when Cottage led her to understand that the chemicals were intended to harm the government or anyone who came unannounced to their home.

"Our relationship before the BNP, it was brilliant," she said. However, she added that Cottage had become "really radical" and their marriage was ruined. "He thinks there's a war going to happen with the culture, the Asian culture and the white culture and that Tony Blair and President Bush are scheming against people," she said.

Ms Cottage added that her husband and Jackson were "solid" friends who met regularly to chat about politics, the BNP and Hitler. Police found guides to making bombs at the Cottages' home, along with ball-bearing BB guns, gas masks, body armour and stab-proof vests.

Cottage's mother, Barbara Cottage, told the jury her son's stockpiling of weapons was only for self-defence. "It was because he was afraid that his house or his family might be attacked," she said. "It was not to go out and attack anybody but because he might be attacked."

Cottage admitted possessing explosives at the pair's first trial in February, when a jury failed to reach a verdict on the more serious charge of conspiring to cause explosions intended to endanger life. He and Jackson deny this for the second time.

The trial continues.

Guardian

BNP candidate was 'stockpiling chemicals for civil war'

The wife of a BNP council candidate accused of stockpiling chemicals for a civil war reported him after he stopped her watching the television, a court heard.

Kerena Cottage, 29, reported Robert, her husband of three-years, after he became "radical" in his religious and political views and removed the TV aerial to shield her from "government propaganda".

Louise Blackwell, prosecuting, said: "He became more religious and controlling of her. He removed the aerial from the television so she couldn't watch what he described as the brainwashing material being put out by the government."

School bus driver Cottage, 49, is jointly accused with former dentist David Jackson, 62, of conspiring to cause an explosion between 1 January 2006 and 30 September 2006. Cottage admitted possessing explosives between the same dates during a previous trial. But Jackson, of Trent Street, Nelson, denies the charge.

Yesterday, Manchester Crown Court, heard that Cottage took delivery of 11 boxes of chemicals and ingredients after Jackson wrote him a letter setting out what to buy.

Miss Blackwell said the investigation began after Mrs Cottage, who suffers from schizophrenia, reported her husband to her social worker who called the police.

She said: "At the start of the relationship all was well but it degenerated. Robert Cottage met a member of the BNP and both he and Kerena joined the organisation. Kerena says some times they would go to meetings very regularly, at which times she described his attitude as radical. He stood on two occasions for the local elections and wasn't selected. Through his membership he met his co-defendant, who wasn't a member but attended meetings.

"Kerena Cottage describes her husband beginning to discuss Asian and white cultures and began listening to what she considered radical radio broadcasts over the internet."

Some time after the chemicals were delivered on 27 September to Cottage's home in Talbot Street, Colne, police arrested him.

The Crown say Cottage also had BB guns, a cross bow, gas masks, two 56 kilogram bags of sugar, a box of mini flares, half a ton of rice, 34 gas canisters, a selection of pellets and an air pistol. Also, officers found a series of printed bomb recipes from "The Anarchist's Handbook", downloaded from the internet.

"The prosecution say these recipes, particularly though not exclusively,show what the intention was of these defendants," said Miss Blackwell.

"Namely, they intended to make an explosion from what they had. These two men agreed to order chemicals that put together would cause an explosion and had the ability to endanger life or cause damage to property. They didn't have them for any lawful purpose."

(proceeding)

Burnley Citizen