• Neil Lewington, 43, built bomb factory in bedroom
• Arrested by chance on train with parts for explosive devices
A neo-Nazi who turned his bedroom into a bomb factory is facing years in jail after being convicted today of terrorism and explosives offences.
Neil Lewington, 43, was arrested by chance on a train on his way to strike his first blow in his racist war against the “non-British”.
The white supremacist, an unemployed electrician who lived with his parents in Tilehurst, Reading, Berkshire, was also trying to perfect tennis-ball bombs which he could throw at the homes of Asians.
He was found guilty at the Old Bailey of having explosives with intent to endanger life and preparing for acts of terrorism.
Lewington had denied all eight charges brought under the Terrorism Act and explosives laws. He was convicted on seven counts and remanded in custody until 8 September.
Judge Peter Thornton said: “The likely outcome is a lengthy sentence of imprisonment.”
Lewington had an “unhealthy interest” in other racist attackers such as London nail bomber David Copeland, America’s Unabomber and Oklahoma bomber Timothy McVeigh.
He was arrested at Lowestoft station in Suffolk on 30 October last year after abusing a female train conductor who challenged him.
Lewington was found to be carrying two firebombs that would have exploded when primed.
Later searches of his home revealed a notebook entitled “Waffen SS UK members’ handbook” with a “device logbook” of drawings of electronics and chemical mixtures. The notebook also contained his boasts of two-man hit squads bombing the UK at random.
Weedkiller, firelighters, three tennis balls with diagrams on how to convert them into shrapnel bombs, firework powder, electrical timers and detonators were found in his bedroom as well.
Brian Altman QC, prosecuting, said: “This man, who had strong if not fanatical rightwing leanings and opinions, was on the cusp of embarking on a campaign of terrorism against those he considered non-British.
“The defendant had in his possession the component parts of two viable improvised incendiary devices.
“He had the parts which, if assembled together, would have created devices which if ignited would have caught alight and caused flames and fire.”
Searches of the bedroom “revealed nothing short of a factory for the production of many such similar devices”, Altman added.
The prosecution could not say where the devices would be placed, but the circumstances showed Lewington was about to commit acts of terrorism.
The court heard he had been unemployed for 10 years and spent his time searching for girlfriends on chatlines.
One woman was put off by him when he said “the only good Paki was a dead Paki” and he would not hit a woman but would “make an exception for a Paki”, the court heard.
Lewington said he was a member of the National Front and wanted the Ku Klux Klan brought back.
Another girlfriend said he spoke of making bombs and asked at which house in her street an Asian family lived.
In a statement read outside the court, Bethan David, of the Crown Prosecution Service’s counter-terror division, said: “While holding racist beliefs is not a crime, however distasteful they may be to most people, planning and preparing to attack or terrorise people with explosive devices is a criminal act.
“The material collected during the investigation, coupled with the nature of the devices that he had made, convinced us that Neil Lewington was a real threat not just to the people that he was targeting but to anyone in the vicinity had he succeeded in detonating his bombs. He had the knowledge and the will to cause destruction, injury and death.”
