A MAN dubbed an IRA sympathiser by the Crown Prosecution Service, who was found with a number of violent terror manuals, has been jailed for more than three years.
Christopher Leslie Partington, 33, pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing at Manchester Crown Court to having six different publications that could be of use to anyone plotting a terror attack.
During initial investigations, he told officers he read some of the material because he was bored.
Partington, of Wildbrook Road, Little Hulton, also pleaded guilty to the illegal possession of ammunition, namely shotgun cartridges.
He could not lawfully have such items for five years after his release from prison for an earlier offence.
Poor Man's James Bond
During a search of his house in May this year, specialist officers found documents and manuals detailing how to construct homemade bombs, gunpowder, rockets, fuses, detonators and booby-traps.
Thousands of images were found of guns, knives and stills of what looked to be hostage-type situations, as well as graphic videos of beheadings and torture.
One document, called the Poor Man’s James Bond, was a 479-page manual with advice on do-it-yourself explosives, associated electronics, how to make automatic weapons, unarmed combat and poisons.
IRA Interest
“Christopher Partington claimed to be someone with an interest in IRA history who came across these terrorist manuals by accident and was curious about their contents,” said Jenny Hopkins from the CPS.
“Under the law that is not a reasonable excuse and he pleaded guilty.”
The prosecution’s case was that, based on comments he made to various criminal justice bodies, Partington was a historic supporter of the IRA.
He admitted to collecting and reading all the documents but claimed in a police interview that he came across them by accident and was ‘just curious’.
He denied he was a terrorist and repeatedly passed the blame onto others, sometimes saying he read them because ‘he was bored’.
He denied being a terrorist or a member of the IRA.
Speaking after the case, Detective Superintendent Will Chatterton, of Counter Terrorism Policing for the North West, said: “Professing himself as a run-of-the-mill Salford man, Partington is a prime example that we are committed to targeting anyone who could pose a risk to the safety of our country, in whatever form of extremism they are involved in.”
