Court told how door of flat above children’s nursery had been modified into becoming an IED with remote control detonation system

Police said a home-made gun, pipe bomb, crossbow, and a US military weapons handbook were also found inside Brendan Campbell’s home which bore the sign “enter at your own risk”.

The searches were carried out in the New Lodge area last month amid claims the 34-year-old had just threatened to cut his mother into pieces.

Details emerged as Campbell, of Victoria Parade, was remanded in custody on eight charges related to the major security alert.

He is accused of possessing explosives with intent to endanger life and in suspicious circumstances, having articles for use in terrorism, threats to kill, and possessing firearms as well as offensive and prohibited weapons.

Belfast Magistrates’ Court heard his mother made a 999 call on August 22, reporting he was in her back yard wielding a brush shaft. She told police he had phoned her the previous night and threatened to “cut her up into pieces”.

Officers found a backpack containing a crossbow with bolts, gas canisters, an axe and a Taser stun gun in the back garden of her property. Campbell was arrested at the scene, with two mobile phones located on him.

His mother told police she had been left so fearful that she did not sleep overnight and changed her morning routine to avoid encountering him in the street.

Prosecutors said follow-up searches at Campbell’s flat revealed an improvised explosive device (IED) attached to the front of the property along with the sign stating “enter at your own risk.”

Army technical officers deployed to deal with it then found a second device built into the front door. With the apartment situated above a children’s nursery, a security operation was launched in the area.

An investigating detective told the court that the door of the apartment had been modified into becoming an IED. “It was wired to an electrical system with a smart plug,” he said.

According to military assessments, the explosives had been designed to utilise that technology as a method of “remote control initiation”.

One of the IEDs had been positioned to be functioned by the perpetrator “at the optimum moment of initiation against any incursion on the perpetrator’s property”.

The second device was probably placed to destroy evidence, the court heard.

“The second device was likely in place within the property in order to destroy evidence.

Wireless cameras had allegedly been installed at the flat to observe any invasion, while a pipe bomb was also discovered in a cardboard box with electrical cable running from it to the letterbox.

It was then attached to a second internal reinforced door.

Police claimed the smart plug could have been used to carry out any remote detonation via a mobile phone.

“The component parts used in the construction of the suspected IEDS, coupled with their location in the property, was such that personal injury and destruction of property were likely,” the detective added.

Inside the flat police discovered quantities of black powder, a 3D-printed firearm and printing equipment, tools, electronic timers, a crossbow, chemicals, a drone, CCTV cameras, mobile phones and computers.

A number of other devices, a pipe bomb, replica guns, manuals on electronics and a US Army improvised munitions handback were also seized.

Controlled explosions carried out at the scene have left the property so damaged that it is currently uninhabitable.

Campbell was allegedly disruptive and aggressive during his initial detention, but then spent five days in hospital before being released back into police custody on Tuesday.

Defence solicitor Peter Corrigan told the court his client’s mental health has deteriorated since the death of his brother.

Disputing allegations that Campbell intended to cause any harm, he submitted: “Police have speculated, it was only a matter of conjecture what these devices were to be used for.”

Mr Corrigan also argued that the defendant’s father stated that he did not behave in a threatening way at their home.

No application for bail was made as Campbell’s representatives seek further mental health assessments.

Adjourning the case, District Judge Anne Marshall remanded him in custody until October 2.