POLICE found ingredients for making a bomb, plus a book on how to do it, when they raided a man's house in the early hours, a jury was told.

Burnley Crown Court heard how officers discovered explosive substances, copper piping and possible detonators stashed away mainly in a cupboard under the stairs or in the attic of the Townhouse Road, Nelson, home Gordon Hudson, 58, shared with his wife Christine.

They also found a floppy disc which featured literature about making explosives, entitled The Big Book of Mischief. A military thunderflash was also in the house, as well as weed killer, fireworks, ammunition and "very precise," weighing scales.

The defendant claimed there was an innocent explanation for each find taken individually and nothing sinister was going on - but the prosecution allege he had them to make a bomb.

Hudson pleads not guilty to having an explosive substance - black powder, sodium nitrate and various pyrotechnic devices on November 21, last year.

Mark Lamberty, prosecuting, said police arrived with a warrant to search for explosives at the defendant's property. He was there with his wife and officers discovered items which the Crown alleged if put together could make a bomb.

Hudson was asked to explain the haul, was arrested and taken to Burnley police station. When questioned, he told police who had found empty cartridges and powder, he had dismantled cartridges to reuse as bullets when he had been a member of a gun club. It saved cash as otherwise it cost 20 to fire each round. He said a bench press at his home was used in connection with that and he had also made some of the empty cartridges into keyrings as mementoes.

Hudson claimed the bottle of weedkiller was used to destroy trees.

Mr Lamberty told the court police discovered four firework rockets in the attic but the defendant maintained he had bought them three or four months before and intended to let them off at Christmas.

Three more rockets were also found and Hudson said he had had those for more than a year.

The defendant told officers he had dismantled a rocket a year or so before but that was all he had done.

The prosecutor said a length of copper piping was in the attic but Hudson claimed it was just coincidence it was there.

He said that it may have been left by the previous owners of the house.

Mr Lamberty said that in his interview the defendant told police he had bought the thunderflash for £1 and that the scales had simply been brought into the house.

He said he had not weighed anything in them.

Hudson told officers he did not have a computer and had not read the contents of the floppy disc. He claimed he had never attempted to make any sort of device with anything the officers had turned up.

Mr Lamberty went on: "In this house were three items for making a bomb.

"There were explosive substances, either from fireworks or ammunition, a container - the pipe- and various things which could be used as detonators, in particularly slow-burning fuses which could be used to set off a bomb."

He said a person could possibly be in lawful possession of explosive substances if they were under extreme attack or in fear of life, but Hudson was not.

(Proceeding)