BOMB STASH FOUND IN HOME
DEFENDANT HAD INSISTED STASH WAS FOR PYROTECHNIC EFFECTS
A MAN with a fascination for fireworks was caught with a stash of homemade explosives and bombs, a court has heard.
Matthew Montanow, 30, was arrested when the bomb squad descended on the Leicestershire village where he lived in September.
Officers also found shotgun cartridges in his bedroom, Leicester Crown Court was told.
Montanow was said to have been showing off when he produced a device and told a shocked female friend “it’s a bomb”.
It looked like a stick of dynamite with a fuse, “like something you’d see in a cartoon”, said prosecutor James Varley.
He added: “The Crown say he was making improvised explosive devices (IEDs) probably as a way of gaining some form of reputational enhancement. It’s not suggested he was intending to use them deliberately to cause any harm.”
The court heard the defendant visited the woman’s home a few days later and placed a small takeaway tub containing some sort of gunpowder on the counter, which caused her fear and concern.
When apprehended by police, the defendant insisted he had been making fireworks.
Montanow, who formerly used the surname Horribin, told the officers: “The sky is my canvas. There’s nothing wrong with that, is there?”
The prosecutor said officers searched his home in Vicarage Close, Newbold Coleorton, near Ashby, where they found fuses and lengths of plastic pipe.
“These tubes were sufficiently robust to be the container for an IED capable of exploding,” said Mr Varley.
Two different types of homemade low-explosive powder were found 342g of gunpowder and 185g of flash powder - along with chemicals for making them.
Also recovered were four “pipe bombs”, some with fuses protracting from the bottom. Each device was a length of tube, sealed at both ends with clay.
Three of them were made of cardboard tubing covered in duct tape and a controlled explosion was carried out by experts.
Mr Varley said the devices exploded with sufficient force to completely destroy the sandbags surrounding them.
He added: “The explosion was filmed. There were no visible pyrotechnic effects, it was simply an explosion.”
Mr Varley said ammunition was recovered from the defendant’s bedroom but no firearms were found.
It was not suggested by the prosecution that the black powder was harvested from commercially-made ammunition.
The prosecutor said Montanow was prohibited from possessing ammunition because he had previous convictions, although there was nothing on his record relating to explosives.
At an earlier hearing, Montanow admitted two counts of possessing an explosive substance (powder), two counts of making an explosive substance relating to four IEDs, and four counts of possessing ammunition when prohibited - a Hornady .17 Magnum Rimfire round, three Fiocchi 12-bore shotgun cartridges, a Lyalvale 12-bore cartridge and a .32 Rio Game Load cartridge.
Judge Robert Brown said the defendant, who had learning difficulties at school, lived with his father and grandfather.
He had been diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and was possibly on the autistic spectrum.
The judge said although the defendant had acquired 28 offences on his record between 2007 and 2019, there was “nothing remotely similar” to these offences.
At an earlier hearing, Montanow’s barrister Andrew Howarth said the defendant was fascinated with pyrotechnics and fireworks.
He added: “He wasn’t doing it with any dark criminal intention or any unlawful purpose.”
Before sentencing, Mr Howarth said Montanow had been on remand in custody for nine-and-a-half months - more than the equivalent of an 18-month sentence if he had been released at the halfway stage.
Judge Brown said: “He’s served long enough.”
Montanow was given an 18-month jail sentence, enabling his release because of time served.