EX-MARINE BACK BEHIND BARS FOR PIPE BOMB STASH
Accused had enough material for nine explosives
A FORMER Royal Marine Commando caught with a pipe bomb in his flat and equipment to make nine more is back behind bars. Allan Peach stored the improvised explosive device in a safe at his home in Dundee. His block of flats had to be evacuated as army bomb disposal experts were called in. A judge heard how 19 cans of CS gas were also discovered. He had been selling them for up to £90. At the High Court in Glasgow yesterday, Peach, 30, pled guilty to possessing an IED and materials with intent to endanger life or cause serious injury. He admitted a further charge of having a quantity of CS spray. He was previously jailed for three years at the same court in 2012 after causing a blast when he stuffed a hair gel tub with explosives at a tenement in Dundee.
Peach faces another jail term when sentenced later this month. Police swooped on the ex-marine’s home last September and found cans of CS gas.
He went on to hand over a set of keys for a safe. Prosecutor Bill McVicar said: “On opening it, police observed what appeared to be an IED.
“It had been manufactured from a copper pipe with end caps attached and a fuse at one end.” Nearby homes were evacuated and a 100-metre exclusion zone set up.
The device was made safe before being analysed by experts. The substance inside was found to be a mixture of powders indicating the pipe bomb was a “poorly made low explosive”.
It had been made with brass fittings normally used by plumbers and a “pyrotechnic fuse” attached.
McVicar said: ‘It is unlikely, therefore, that the IED would function as expected.” But the prosecutor added that Peach had sufficient material to make a further nine pipe bombs.
He told the court: “It is possible that even such poorly made low explosives could have functioned either partially or entirely.”
Peach did not have legal permission to have the CS spray.
He told police he had been a former marine and was suffering from a number of personal issues.
Judge Lord Clark remanded him in custody as sentencing was deferred for reports.
It is not likely the IED would function as expected PROSECUTOR BILL McVICAR HIGH COURT