Childhood pals Waris Ali and Dabeer Hussain, both 18, were found with digital copies of the Anarchist's Cookbook on their home computers.

The pair also chatted on the internet about how they would spy on and bomb members of the far right political party, Leeds Crown Court was told yesterday.

Ali, from Dearnley Street, Ravensthorpe, also bought several kilos of a potassium nitrate – a legal chemical which can be used in the preparation of explosives as well as fireworks – on eBay.

He had also scoured the internet for information on buying hi-tech surveillance equipment, the court was told.

However his naive plotting was discovered when he asked a librarian how much fertiliser could be safely stored in a person's home without raising suspicion from the authorities, the court heard.

Fertiliser bombs were just one of dozens of recipes listed in the Anarchist's Cookbook.

A jury was told yesterday that the huge internet-based manual – and its later edition the Proper Anarchist's Cookbook – contained scores of detailed recipes for making a range of "effective and simple" bombs which had the capacity to kill or maim.

It included recipes for nailbox, fertiliser, tennis ball, pipe, phone and book bombs.

Internet conversations between the two friends later revealed a common dislike of the BNP.

During one conversation the pair discussed doing the "BNP thing" and said: "When we find out where they all hang out we can blow them up", the court heard.

The court was told that Ali in particular had "nurtured a particular and poignant dislike" for the BNP and its activities. His bedroom wall was covered in newspaper cuttings about the BNP, including the court case of a party activist – accused of threatening to spill Muslim blood – who had recently walked free.

Ali had also expressed disdain for George Bush, the Iraq war and the treatment of prisoners in Guantanamo Bay and had logged the dates of major terror acts in his diary.

The jury was told that Ali and Hussain were school pals from their time at Westborough High School in Dewsbury.

Ali denies three charges of possessing an article for a terrorist purpose. Hussain, of Clarkson Street, Ravensthorpe, denies one similar charge.
Proceeding

Sign up to the Yorkshire Evening Post's email alerts