A MAN who claimed he had extremist material on his phone because he was bored has been jailed for terrorism offences.

Specialist bomb disposal officers found documents and manuals on how to make explosives, and the impact they have, when they visited Christopher Partington's house in Wildbrook Road, Little Hulton, in May.

During the visit, which was initially as a precaution, they also discovered thousands of images of guns, knives and stills of what look to be hostage-type situations, as well as graphic videos of beheadings and torture.

A scene was in place at the house for some time while officers carried out searches.

In police interview, Partington, aged 33, denied being a terrorist and repeatedly passed the blame onto others, sometimes saying he came across documents by accident, other times saying that he read them because ‘he was bored’.

Today, Partington was jailed for three years and two months at Manchester Crown Court, Crown Square via videolink.

He pleaded guilty to six offences relating to the possession of a document or record likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism. He also pleaded guilty to possession of ammunition.

Speaking after the case, Head of Investigations Detective Superintendent Will Chatterton, of Counter Terrorism Policing for the North West, said: “While trying to convince us that he was not involved in terrorism of any kind and it just so happened the documents appeared on his phone, through no fault of his own, the case against him was building stronger and stronger as we rifled through thousands of pages of extremist manuals.

“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.”