Two Germans have been jailed for being in possession of al-Qaida bomb-making propaganda when they arrived at Dover.

Christian Emde, 28, and Robert Baum, 24, were arrested on 15 July, with material seized from their hard drive and laptop computer. They pleaded guilty at the Old Bailey on Thursday to having material that could be of use to someone preparing an act of terrorism.

Emde, of Solingen, near Dusseldorf, admitted four offences under the Terrorism Act. He was jailed for a total of 16 months, minus the 193 days he had already spent in custody.

He admitted having online copies of al-Qaida's Inspire magazines, which contained titles such as Destroying Buildings and Make a Bomb in the Kitchen of Your Mom.

Judge Peter Rook said the material made "chilling reading".

Baum, also of Solingen, admitted one charge under the same act of having an article entitled 39 Ways Of Participating or Serving in Jihad. He was jailed for 12 months after the prosecution said the document was at the lower end of the extremist literature spectrum.

Both men will now be deported from Britain.

Judge Rook ordered that the £2,467 the men had with them should go towards prosecution costs.

Sarah Whitehouse, prosecuting, said tickets had been bought for the men to visit London and Birmingham by a man who had links with a suspected terrorist who had been excluded from the UK.

Both men had converted to Islam, and had met at a mosque in their home town.

They told police they had been intending to study in Egypt but diverted to England because of the cost.

Whitehouse said the material was available on the internet from US websites, and there had been no prosecutions in Germany for possessing it.

Unemployed Emde said he had been studying extremism for nearly two years

Timothy Green, for Emde, said: "Mr Emde is not a terrorist. He was not going to pass the documents to anyone.

"The offence was committed by accident when he made the unexpected trip to this country."

Jonathan Drury, for Baum, a warehouseman, said: "He is searching for his purpose in life. That is what led him to the study of Islam."

Detective Chief Superintendent Mark Warwick, head of the south-east counter-terrorism unit, said: "The documents we found included full instructions on how to make homemade explosives and how to shield explosives from detection by scanners and sniffer dogs.

"We also found guidance on how to demolish buildings using explosives.

"Possessing these kinds of materials are serious offences, and we will investigate anyone who breaks the law in this way and ensure they are brought to justice."