A teenager has been convicted of planning a massacre at his former college after stockpiling pipe bombs, a semi-automatic pistol and 94 hollow-point expanding bullets.

Liam Lyburd, 19, from Newcastle upon Tyne, followed online instructions to build the bombs, and bought the 9mm Glock handgun and bullets from a marketplace on the darknet.

Police found the weapons when they raided his home in November. The prosecution claimed he had planned to carry out a massacre at Newcastle College, a large further education institution with more than 18,000 students.

Lyburd studied there for about a month in September 2012. Police began investigating after reports of comments he posted online in which he discussed plans to massacre students. He had praised US high school shooters and the Norwegian mass-murderer Anders Breivik.

After searching Lyburd’s bedroom, police found the cache of weapons, a ‘kill bag’ containing overalls, mask, boots and pipe bombs, and incriminating evidence on his laptop.

About 50 nearby homes were evacuated while the army bomb disposal team searched the house, which Lyburd shared with his mother and sister.

A computer specialist recovered a deleted file from his computer, in which he wrote about taking vengeance on the college, which had expelled him 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.”

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

Lyburd had admitted nine charges relating to making five pipe bombs, two home-made explosive devices, possessing a handgun, the hollow-point ammunition and CS gas.

The jury at Newcastle crown court convicted him of a further eight charges of possessing those items with an intent to endanger life at Newcastle College – charges he had denied.

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.

Some of the items recovered from Liam Lyburd’s Newcastle home. Photograph: CPS/PA

Using the Evolution marketplace, a successor to the well-known Silk Road website, 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. 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 told the jury that his pictures dressed in combat gear and posing with weapons wereintended to draw attention to himself online, and to get a reaction, as he was lonely.

It was just like other people having Halloween costumes, he claimed, and he had no intention of shooting anyone. But Nick Dry, prosecuting, told the court this was no fantasy, and there was every intent to endanger life with the chilling weaponry he had amassed.

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.

Pictures recovered from the laptop of Liam Lyburd. Photograph: CPS/PA

After his arrest, he admitted he enjoyed the thought of being in the news. Judge Paul Sloan QC will sentence him on 25 September, after a psychiatric report has been prepared. “You will appreciate that only a very substantial sentence in custody is appropriate,” he told Lyburd.

As he was taken away from court, Lyburd gestured to his own head with his fingers, as if to shoot himself.











