This article is more than 10 years old

This article is more than 10 years old

Terrance Gavan. Photograph: West Yorkshire police/PA

A BNP member who spent a decade building up a cache of weapons in a bedroom hideaway was jailed for 11 years today.

Bus driver Terrance Gavan manufactured highly dangerous firearms and explosives at the home where he lived with his mother in Batley, West Yorkshire.

Police discovered 54 improvised bombs including nail bombs and a booby-trapped cigarette packet, as well as 12 firearms.

The former soldier told detectives that he had "a fascination with things that go bang", the Old Bailey heard.

But Gavan also had a "strong hostility" towards immigrants, the court heard, and planned to target an address he had seen on a television programme that he believed was linked to the 7 July bomb attacks in London.

He told police he was a BNP member and letters to him from the party, as well as a copy of its magazine Hope and Glory, were found at his home.

The court heard that handwritten notebooks were found. One note said: "The patriot must always be ready to defend his country against enemies and their governments."

Gavan pleaded guilty to 22 counts including collecting information useful for terrorism and possessing explosives and firearms.