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An obsessed man tried to frame his ex-girlfriend's new partner by planting a home-made bomb in his car.

Riyaz Khan's "inconceivable stupidity" caused a major security alert with the army's bomb disposal team becoming involved, Leicester Crown Court was told.

There was a huge response from the emergency services at Huntington Road, Northfields, Leicester, following the alert.

The surrounding areas were cordoned off and up to 40 homes were evacuated on the morning of Monday June 4.

It came about because Khan was obsessed with reconciling with his ex-girlfriend and ended up launching a "campaign of stalking" the young woman as well as her father and new partner, who she has since married.

Khan, 27, wanted to frame her partner by planting a home-made incendiary device, made from fireworks, in the partner's car - along with a USB stick containing illegal child pornography and a bomb-making manual.

It was part of his plan to get the "wholly innocent" man into trouble by making him appear to be a terrorist and a paedophile.

Khan, of Gilbert Close, Rushey Mead, Leicester, pleaded guilty to three counts of stalking between March 31 and June 4.

He also admitted damaging a car window and attempting to pervert the course of justice.

'You were trying to frame him as, in effect, a terrorist'

Judge Dean said: "You embarked, after the breakdown or ending of your relationship, on what amounted to a campaign of stalking.

"To some extent it was aimed at her, but in due course included her father and also, most seriously, became aimed at and targeted towards her partner, who was due to marry her.

"You placed an improvised explosive device in his car and placed inside his jacket pocket (also in the car), a USB flash drive containing illicit images of children.

"It was placed there by you because you were trying to frame him for the serious offence of possessing child pornography.

"It also included a manual on how to make a bombs or improvised explosive devices.

"You were trying to frame him as, in effect, a terrorist.

"I'm not saying it represented a sophisticated course of conduct, but it represented a series of determined acts in attempt to frame him.

"We've heard about the effect, or potential effect, upon the community by your actions of placing the device in the car.

"You had no idea of the seriousness of what you were doing, you were so singlemindedly determined to pursue a relationship with your ex-girlfriend that you were blinkered into carrying out the acts that you thought would result in resuming a relationship with her.

"Fortunately for you, the blame for those events (involving the explosive device and child pornography) weren't laid at his door; that was because it was he who reported the circumstances to the police having found the device in his car.

"This case is very grave, very serious and requires a sentence of immediate imprisonment."

What was the relationship like?

Stuart Lody, prosecuting, told the court: "The offences arise out of the defendant's inability to accept the breakdown down of his relationship and a desire to harm his former girlfriend's marriage to her new partner and take vengeance upon her family."

He said the defendant first met his ex-girlfriend after setting up a false Facebook account in which he purported to be a teenage girl and through that medium asked her to befriend him.

In due course he revealed his true identity and the victim, described as "young and naive," agreed to go out with him.

Mr Lody said: "The relationship lasted a number of years but the defendant proved to be controlling and jealous.

"She was required to provide passwords for social media accounts to him.

"He used a computer application to track her social media use."

Khan also made unwanted and unannounced visits to her workplace, lurked around and generally pestered her when she was at home by constantly phoning and even, late at night, sitting outside her house revving his car engine when she, an early riser, was trying to sleep.

In due course it transpired that his parents, for whatever reason, did not want the two to marry and the defendant then denounced her to her parents.

Mr Lody said: "Understandably her parents were not prepared to tolerate any more of this sort of behaviour and the relationship was finally ended in early 2017."

Despite having brought about the end of the relationship the defendant hatched a plan so she would leave her new husband-to-be and run off with him to live "happily ever after."

Photoshopped potato made to look like a baby

He hung around her workplace and left presents.



Mr Lody said: "Bizarrely, he sent her a photo of a potato which seemed to be in the shape of a baby which he had photo-shopped so that it had a nappy on.



"He waited outside her house for about 40 minutes in the week before she was due to be married.



"He frequently drove past her house and on occasions followed her.



"This caused fear, distress, alarm, and embarrassment at work, and she changed her movements.



"Things took a much more sinister turn when he then mounted campaigns against her new partner and her father.

"He placed a tracking device underneath her father's car - no doubt in order to track her movements in particular.

"He set up a Facebook account, in a false name, from which he sent threatening and abusive messages to the father and sought to smear his reputation by sending false social media posts, including a photo purporting to show the father had an unhealthy interest in teenage girls."

What did he put in the car?

Mr Lody said the new partner had the use of a red Peugeot car.

He said: "The defendant smashed one of the Peugeot's windows and placed within it two explosive devices which he'd fashioned from large fireworkds.

"He also put in the vehicle a portable USB drive onto which he'd downloaded child pornography including images across all three categories and a bomb-making manual."

Just after 4am on June 4, the defendant made an anonymous call to the police claiming a man fitting the new partner's description had taken explosives from a car parked on the road where the victims lived and had tried to sell them to him.

Mr Lody said: "At 8.30 that morning the ex-girlfriend's partner left for work and went to the car.

"He found that a window had been broken and that a package had been left on the back seat of the car.

"On examination he thought it was a bomb.

"The police were informed and he confided his concerns about the defendant who had been making inquiries about him and followed him on at least one occasion.

"This was treated by the police as a major incident of concern.

"The police went to the ex-girlfriend's place of work in order to check upon her safety and arrested the defendant who was lurking in the vicinity."

Mr Lody said the defendant had also told a friend he was planning to kidnap his ex-girlfriend so they could live together in the North West.

He added: "There was clearly an element of fantasy in his thinking at that time."



What did the victims say?

The court heard that the defendant's ex-girlfriend now feels uncomfortable about going to certain places in Leicester because she is worried about bumping into the defendant or his family.

She could not understand why her father and her "blameless" new husband should have been targeted.

Her husband said he was shocked about the bomb incident and concerned about his wife's emotional wellbeing.

He said that the defendant's actions had caused his neighbours to now be suspicious about him.

The husband added: "He was trying to frame me and get me sent to prison for a very long time."

Police Community Neighbourhood Inspector, Paul Allen, said in a statement read out by the prosecutor that the incident had the potential to cause tension in the wider community.

(Image: Chris Gordon)

He said that extensive cordons were made around the area with a "multi-agency response."

There was "extensive disruption" to traffic and the army bomb disposal unit was deployed.

The officer also stated: "The defendant's selfish actions had the potential not only to cause injury or damage to first responders but also those in the immediate vicinity and could have affected the well being and feeling of safety and security of people in their own homes."

The army's bomb disposal team were deployed and traffic in the area was disrupted.

What was said in mitigation?

Khan's barrister, James Varley, told the court: "The device was two fireworks with the (wooden) sticks broken off and wrapped up in tape with the touch paper still protruding from the black tape."

Mr Varley said he accepted fear would have been caused to the community by the notion there was bomb, but news that it might be linked with terrorism had soon "fizzled out."

Judge Dean said: "We have an emergency situation brought about by the defendant's activities - and that will have a cost regarding the police and emergency resources.

"It also caused harm of fear of racial discrimination."

Mr Varley replied: "Any major incident can cause public concern.

"This wasn't an extremist act but a stupid, selfish young man acting in a way that was inconceivably stupid - and there may have been some damage to our reputation as a city, but I'm not aware of any damage.

"He placed these fireworks in a wholly innocent man's car after he smashed a window in the vehicle.

"Whilst there was cunning and thought going into what he did, because these were planned actions, it was also very limited.

"He became obsessed and couldn't deal with the breakdown of the relationship.

(Image: chris gordon)

"He had a bizarre notion that if he got his ex-girlfriend's new partner out of the way everything would be rosy in the future.

"It was borne of tunnel vision that one would only see in someone who was obsessed; because the girl he was head over heels in love with since he was 20 or 21-years-old was denied to him.

"The defendant reacted very badly.

"He had a friend who tried to talk some sense into him.

"He's now re-engaged with his family and understands why his father did what he did.

"He apologises through me and says he has no intention of involving himself with these people again.

"Being on remand in prison has made him grow up and there will be no repetition of obsessive and dangerous behaviour."

Khan was jailed for three years and nine months.