Man found with bombs in the back of his van after threatening woman with sawn off shotgun

A man who threatened to shoot his partner in the head with a sawn off shotgun has been jailed for 17 years.

Samuel Rhodes, 30, burst into his partner's home in Foxhole, Cornwall, before holding the fully loaded gun to her head and saying "I am going to kill you right now".

She managed to flee onto the street in her pyjamas.

Rhodes drove off and Devon and Cornwall Police officers later found him near a garage in St Dennis with a "vast quantity" of ammunition in the back of his van.

Police found three viable fragmentation improvised explosive devices (IEDs) as well as firearms in the vehicle. The IEDs were packed with ball bearings, shrapnel and metal fragments.

Rhodes pleaded guilty to possessing a firearm with intent to endanger life and four counts of possessing an explosive substance with intent.

He has now been jailed for 13 years with a four-year extended sentence following a hearing at Truro Crown Court.

Rupert Taylor, mitigating, described Rhodes' behaviour as "bizarre", saying it was because he had abused class A drugs "on an industrial scale".

Judge Simon Carr told Rhodes: "The explosive devices were all fully operational. To construct a bomb is almost unbelievable, to construct multiple bombs defies belief.

"The one purpose of devices constructed in this way is to kill and maim as many people as possible and they were loaded for that purpose."

His partner told the court she could never forgive him and had been left petrified by his actions.