Sentence delayed on Bassett explosives youth

5:29pm Monday 21st April 2008

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A judge has put off passing sentence on a youth who manufactured high explosives at the family home so further reports can be compiled.

Thomas Cowley, of Queens Road, Wootton Bassett, admitted making the devices as well as possessing the illicit substances at his home in the heart of Wootton Basset.

The 20-year-old was due to face sentence today but a judge at Swindon crown court heard he had recently been diagnosed as having Asperger syndrome.

And Recorder Jeremy Wright adjourned the case so a further psychiatric report can be compiled and said the court may consider a hospital order under the Mental Health Act.

Cowley will remain in custody for a further six weeks and return to be sentenced on Friday June 6.

The bomb-making charges relate to a period between September 2006, when he was still only 18 years old, through to June 29 last year.

He admitted making nitro-glycerine, triacetone triperoxide, nitrocellulose and methyl nitrate at an earlier hearing.

The defendant also accepted having nitric acid, sulphuric acid, methanol, glycerine, mercury as well as battery snaps and hand made explosive detonators in June.

Cowley pleaded guilty to four counts of making and explosive substance and one of possession.

Virginia Cornwell, defending, said her client had recently been diagnosed as having life long Asperger syndrome.

She said he had spent six months in custody after fleeing to Canada while on bail and hoped the court would not sentence him to further time in prison.

As well as the new report she asked for the probation service to investigate the possibility of funding for a placement in a specialised hospital.

However the judge said in adjourning the case he was holding out no promises of what the outcome would be, though a hospital order was a possibility.

Hundreds of neighbouring residents were evacuated after the large cache of chemicals was found in a garden shed at Cowley's family home.

Then, still a teenager, the defendant had been taken to hospital having inhaled fumes from an experiment he had been conducting.

As a result police and officers from the bomb squad investigated substances found in the garden shed causing the evacuation of houses within a 30 metre radius.

It is thought the array of chemicals had been bought through mail order internet websites.