Banged up, family man whose hobby was making bombs

A MAN who told police: “Some people collect stamps. I make bombs”, has been jailed after breaching an Asbo banning him from having explosives.

Paul Smith set off bombs so regularly his family bought him a 40th birthday cake shaped like one. It read: “Paul 40 today. Hope it goes with a ‘bang’.”

Police dismantled his workshop after he was remanded in custody for five months in April 2012, following complaints about explosions by ­neighbours. In September that year he was released and given the 10-year Asbo.

But in March last year officers were called back by neighbours, who heard more bangs at his home in East Hull, East Yorkshire. They found he had reassembled a huge collection of bomb- making equipment in his shed.

He had a pipe bomb, dummy shells, a rocket launcher, detonators, flash powder, ball bearings, charcoal to make gunpowder, transmitters and receivers.

Smith, 41, who had been held on remand since March, was jailed for 20 months at Hull Crown Court ­yesterday after pleading guilty to breaching his Asbo and having explosives at his home.

He bought his supplies off the internet, where he also picked up his bomb-making skills.