'Racist' was on cusp of terror attack, jury told

A man arrested for urinating at a train station turned out to be a white supremacist who was "on the cusp" of launching a terrorist attack against "non-British" people using bombs disguised as tennis balls, a court heard.

Neil Lewington had developed a bomb factory in his bedroom at the home he shared with his parents in Reading and aimed to target "those he considered non-British", jurors were told.

Mr Lewington, who was unemployed, had an "unhealthy interest" in the London nail bomber David Copeland and the Oklahoma bomber Timothy McVeigh and had "white supremacist and racist views", the Old Bailey heard.

The 43-year-old was arrested at Lowestoft station, in Suffolk, on 30 October last year, after a female train guard complained that he had abused her. She said he had been drinking and smoking on the train and had urinated on the station platform. Officers searched his hold-all and found bomb-making paraphernalia. Searches of his home revealed a notebook entitled "Waffen SS UK members handbook".

The court was told that various former girlfriends of Mr Lewington had become concerned about his racist views. He had spoken to some about converting tennis balls into bombs. One said he had told her about his bomb-making and asked her at which house in her street an Asian family lived.

Brian Altman, for the prosecution, said: "He explained how he could throw a tennis ball bomb or place it somewhere and then run away." Mr Lewington denies six terrorism charges and two of possessing explosives. The trial continues.