A “cold and detached” teenager who planned a gun and bomb massacre at his former college has been jailed for life with a minimum of eight years.



Liam Lyburd, 19, held a grudge against Newcastle College, a large further education institution with more than 18,000 students, after he was expelled for bad behaviour just a month into a general access course.

He retreated into a reclusive online world, rarely leaving his bedroom, and amassed a “kill bag” and formidable weapons including pipe bombs, a Glock pistol and 94 hollow-tipped expanding bullets.

He was jailed at Newcastle crown court on Friday having admitted possessing the items and being found guilty of having them with intent to endanger life. Passing sentence, Judge Paul Sloan QC said he was in no doubt Lyburd would have carried out his planned attack had he not been caught. He said: “Your emotional coldness and detachment and your lack of empathy to others was self-evident,” he told the teenager, who remained impassive as he was sent to jail.

Police were alerted in November 2014 by a member of the public who was concerned about Facebook posts Lyburd made talking about launching a murderous attack. In his room they found the cache of weapons, the bag containing his overalls, mask, boots and pipe bombs, and incriminating evidence on his laptop.

The estate where he lived with his mother and sister near Newcastle United’s stadium was cordoned off for days while police carried out searches. A deleted file was later recovered from Lyburd’s computer in which he wrote about getting vengeance on the college which had kicked him out two years before.

It said: “You people ruined my whole life, don’t expect me to show mercy today. No one disrespects me and gets away with it. I’ll teach you people a little lesson on respect with my 9mm jacketed hollow points.

“It’s time for extreme civil disobedience. Fantasy will become reality today for sure. Where the mind goes the body will follow and, yes, people will die, there’s no question about that.”

As Lyburd was taken away by police, he laughed and told officers they had saved lives, preventing what would have otherwise been a massacre at the college. They found webcam pictures he took of himself dressed for combat, armed with a Glock and brandishing a knife.

In court he admitted nine charges relating to making five pipe bombs, two home-made explosive devices, possessing a 9mm Glock gun, the hollow-point ammunition and CS gas. A jury convicted him of eight charges of possessing those items with an intent to endanger life at Newcastle College following a trial in July.

The investigation revealed how Lyburd had cut himself off from reality, rarely leaving his home and spending hours surfing the illicit reaches of the internet using Tor, a browser that hides users’ identities. It was through the Tor network’s hidden services – encrypted sites only available using the browser – that he was able to buy his weapons.

Using the Evolution marketplace, a successor to Silk Road, Lyburd bought the Glock frame in Austria and other parts from Turkey and the US, and had them shipped to his home.

Lyburd, who was skilled at computing but out of work, made cash from spreading viruses and making the victims pay a ransom to have encryption on their files removed. He claimed to target paedophiles for extortion, tricking them into downloading the virus from teen chat websites.

His targets had to pay him in bitcoin, an anonymous digital currency based on encryption. A user named Dangerous Dog warned Lyburd he faced 10 years in jail if he was caught importing the Glock and ammunition. The teenager said in court: “I should have listened to them.”

Lyburd, who would smirk inappropriately during the trial, boasted that buying the gun online was no big deal and “like buying a bar of chocolate”. He struggled to answer questions when giving evidence, at times contorting himself in the witness box and bowing his head so his answers were inaudible.

After the sentencing, DS George Duff, who led the investigation, said he was pleased that Lyburd was behind bars. “Lyburd is a dangerous man who intended to cause serious harm. He at no point has shown any remorse for what he intended to do,” he said. “By not admitting his wrongdoing in the first instance shows the utter lack of consideration for those he intended to harm. Thankfully the courts and the jury came to the best decision and today Lyburd is behind bars where he belongs.”