A teenager accused of plotting to start a race war by blowing up a police station has denied he was preparing to build his own incendiary device.
Luke Skelton is accused of researching bombmaking techniques and recipes while posting far-right propaganda across a series of social media accounts.
Jurors heard how the information the Washington teenager downloaded was all readily available online when he started giving evidence during his trial at Teesside Crown Court.
The 19-year-old’s defence barrister, Crispin Aylett KC, asked his client how he came to have the material on his phone when police arrested him on suspicion of plotting a terror attack on a Newcastle police station.
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The barrister asked: “If I was looking for information about the US Army Special Forces, I could just find it on the internet?”
The teenager replied: “Yes.”
He continued: “Is that how it came to be on your phone?”
Skelton replied: “I don’t remember why. I just downloaded it and forgot it was there.”
The court heard how the online booklet had a recipe to make napalm – an American weapon used during the Vietnam war which is designed to burn for long periods of time after sticking to its intended target.
Mr Aylett continued: “Did you have any intention of making napalm?”
Skelton simply replied: “No.”
Earlier in the trial, explosives expert Lisa Dunn, who is based at the Ministry of Defence’s site at Porton Down, told jurors that the accused had gathered enough information to create a ‘viable’ explosive.
Nicholas De La Poer KC, prosecuting, confirmed to the jury that none of the ingredients required to make any of the explosive devices were recovered from Skelton’s home in Washington, Tyne and Wear.
The defendant carried out a ‘hostile reconnaissance' of Forth Bank police station before he was arrested last September and his mobile phone and computer system were seized by counter-terrorism officers.
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Jurors had heard how Skelton dreamed of returning the country back to the 1900s when it was at its peak of Imperialism and ethnic diversity was very limited and shared his vision with people on social media.
Skelton, of Oxclose, Washington, denies a charge of preparing to commit acts of terrorism.
The trial, which is expected to last two weeks, continues.
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