A self-styled Doomsday ‘prepper’ turned his home into an explosives factory and set off dozens of devices in the garden, a court has been told.
Simon Pilgrim, 41, from Derby, was arrested last December when police raided his accommodation in a multi-occupancy block.
Officers uncovered 13 viable improvised explosive devices (IEDs) in his room and the burnt remains of 40 more in the back garden in King Alfred Street, the Old Bailey heard.
Before a search, Pilgrim was asked if he had anything dangerous. He told officers: ‘There’s an ottoman in my room. Inside it is a shoe box and inside that are small bangers. They just make noise.’
But prosecutor Emma Gargitter suggested Pilgrim had turned his room into a ‘storage space and workshop for manufacturing explosive devices’.
Items seized included cut pipes and end caps, resin kits and moulds for making knife blades and knuckle dusters, a bag containing black clothes, a lock pick kit and elbow and knee pads, IED casing, body armour and a notebook of…
