A NEO-Nazi who planned to bomb Newbury as part of a national, racist terrorist campaign, has been jailed indefinitely.
Forty-three-year-old Neil Lewington had a bomb factory in the bedroom of the home he shared with his parents Christopher and Margaret in Church End Lane, Tilehurst.
In July a jury at London’s Old Bailey convicted him of a string of charges relating to terrorism and possessing explosives.
Today (Tuesday) Judge Peter Thornton QC sentenced him to an indeterminate sentence of imprisonment for public protection.
His parents Christopher and Margaret looked on from the public gallery as he was told he would spend at least six years behind bars before being considered for parole.
The judge told him: “Although your conduct fell short of attempting to commit terrorist acts, a person convicted of these types of offences must expect a substantial sentence of imprisonment both to mark the seriousness and also to serve as a deterrent to others.
“I accept you are an oddball, eccentric, dysfunctional and sometimes immature but I do not accept that you are no more than a nuisance or pest.”
He added: “My assessment is that you are a dangerous man, somebody who exhibits emotional coldness and detachment.
“You would not have been troubled by the prospect of endangering somebody's life or damaging their property. In my judgement there is a significant risk to the public of serious harm.”
The court had heard how officers found explosive chemicals and racist manuals including the Waffen SS UK Members’ Handbook and instructions on constructing devices.
In it was scrawled: “A new group has been formed, the Waffen SS UK. No longer will the weaklings rule the white man by lies and deceit but the warrior will make his comeback and rule by strength, honesty and love for his race. This is no joke.”
It contained headings such as “Picking target areas.”
His cache of hate literature and chemicals was discovered after his arrest for drunkenly abusing a female rail employee at Lowestoft train station in Suffolk on October 30 last year.
During the trial his former girlfriend, mother-of-six Cynthia Little of Newbury, told the jury that Mr Lewington once spotted her Asian neighbours and added: “He was going on about making bombs out of tennis balls. He said it would be easy to throw something or leave something there because nobody would see who did it.”
Neighbours of Ms Little told the Newbury Weekly News that the Asian family had lived there for 30 years and said: “They are lovely people and even though it’s not their religion, we always get Christmas cards from them. But they do get troubled by racists throwing stones at their windows.”
The head of the household, 69-year-old Khalil Meah told the NWN he got on well with everybody nearby. He dismissed the incidents as “just kids being naughty” and described Mr Lewington as a “lone lunatic.”
His mother Margaret Lewington had told jurors her son lived “in a world of his own.”
The court heard he had even rigged up a device to hammer on his neighbours’ walls to torment them. They have since moved.
Other neighbours told the NWN that his parents were devastated by their son’s behaviour.
One, who asked not to be named, said: “It was chaos when he was arrested - for days there were police in white boiler suits and masks, sniffer dogs and vans.
“He was always a strange boy but Christopher and Margaret are lovely people. We are all gobsmacked.”
Lewington, who did not give evidence, had sought to claim he was interested in electronics and that the explosives were for starting bonfires.
But he was convicted of a series of charges relating to terrorism and possessing explosives.
He was cleared of one charge of collecting information likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism.