Teen who ‘idolised serial killers’ and searched Southport attacker jailed over college bomb threat
Jagger Strang told fellow pupils that he wanted to “buy a pressure cooker” to build a bomb.
A teenager who “idolised serial killers” and threatened to bomb his college has been jailed for three years and 11 months.
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Jagger Strang, 18, from Stafford, was reported to the police after he told peers at Stafford College that he wanted to blow up the site in September last year.
On the first day of his trial last month, he pleaded guilty to seven charges, including possession of explosive substances; gunpowder and thermite, and accessing YouTube videos about the manufacture of black powder and how to make a detonator from improvised materials.
Strang also admitted making threats to kill students at Stafford College but the prosecution accepted he had “no intention” of actually building a bomb.
On Monday at Birmingham Crown Court, Mr Justice Mark Wall handed Strang a custodial sentence, stressing the need for “deterrents” and warning that “it is easier now than ever before” for people to buy explosives on the internet.
Judge Wall said: “You persuaded those to whom you spoke that you intended to make good on your threats, you said, for example, that you had identified a particular classroom to blow up because of the number of glass windows it had.”
Strang told fellow pupils that he wanted to “buy a pressure cooker” to build a bomb, and sent them videos of homemade weapons and explosives, the court heard.
“It was not simply an interest in chemistry,” said Judge Wall.
He added that Strang had told other students that he “idolised serial killers” and sent pictures and videos of serial killers to them.
Staffordshire Police said they were contacted by a safeguarding officer at Stafford College last September following reports that Strang, who was a student there, had told other students he had numerous weapons and had plans to blow up the site.
Strang was arrested at his home the same day, the force said.
During a search of the property, officers seized a number of chemicals along with homemade black powder/gunpowder and thermite. A blow pipe was also recovered.
A spokesperson said officers also examined Strang’s mobile phone, where they found “concerning material” including a manifesto and recent internet searches relating to notorious mass killers and instructions on how to make bombs and remote detonators.
Strang was sentenced to three years and 11 months custody in a young offenders institute.