Roddis, Nicholas

Nicholas Roddis pleaded not guilty at Leeds Crown Court in July 2008 to charges of placing a hoax bomb with intent and engaging in the preparation of an act of terrorism.

Mr Roddis was arrested and charged in relation to two incidents. In May 2007 he had built a hoax bomb from bags of sugar wrapped in tape, wires and an alarm clock, and left it on a bus in Rotherham causing the bus to be evacuated.

In July 2007 he caused concern after he showed some former colleagues a bag of replica bullets and defunct commercial explosives claiming they were real bullets and live landmines.

The prosecution case was that, taken as a whole, the evidence suggested Mr Roddis was intent upon committing a terrorist act. It was argued that he identified with militant Islamists and that the evidence pointed toward him preparing to commit terrorist acts.

The defence case was that Mr Roddis was a harmless fantasist of previous good character and with no links to terrorist organisations.

He was convicted in July 2008 and sentenced to a total of seven years’ imprisonment (two for placing a hoax bomb and five, to run consecutively, for the preparation of an act of terrorism). He was acquitted by the jury on four other charges.

Mr Roddis sought to appeal against his conviction for the preparation of an act of terrorism, but his appeal was dismissed in March 2009.

He first applied first to the CCRC in 2010 but the CCRC was unable to refer his case for appeal. He applied again in 2014 by which time he was at liberty.

Having reviewed the case in detail, the CCRC decided to refer Mr Roddis’ case for appeal because it considered that there was a real possibility the Court would quash the conviction.

The referral was based on new evidence that Mr Roddis had an Autistic Spectrum Disorder which was undiagnosed at the time of trial and which would have provided the jury with crucial evidence on which they could have assessed the issue of Mr Roddis’ intent.

The CCRC referred the conviction in March 2019.

The Court of Appeal upheld the conviction in March 2020.