Man jailed for having pipe bombs that exploded outside homes

A man found guilty of possessing pipe bombs which exploded outside homes in Londonderry, has been jailed for four years.

Noel Logan, 38, of Nelson Drive in the Waterside area of the city, was told by the judge that he will spend a further four years on supervised licence on his release from prison.

Logan had denied three counts of having the devices with intent to endanger life or cause serious injury.

In May 2025, he was was found guilty of all three offences with Mr Justice Fowler stating he was "satisfied the defendant handled the three devices but I do not find that he deployed them".

The court had heard that, following a police investigation, Logan was arrested in December 2020, charged and remanded in custody at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic.

It was the prosecution's case that Logan's DNA was found on all three devices which had exploded outside homes in the Waterside in Derry between July 2017 and September 2019.

The DNA was extracted from tape found attached to all three devices.

The remnants of the devices were made safe by Army Technical Officers before being removed for examination.

Forensic science experts reported that in two of the cases there was a one in a billion chance that the DNA found on the Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) did not match Logan's.

Following the examination of a third device, an expert said there was a one in 1.7 million chance it did not belong to the defendant.

The prosecution also stated during the trial that Logan lived less than a mile and a half from the three targeted addresses.

In his defence, Logan claimed he had "no involvement in any way whatsoever with the pipe bomb attacks'', saying he had never seen a pipe bomb "never mind touch one''.

He claimed there was an innocent explanation for how his DNA was found on tape attached to the devices.

Logan alleged he used the tape to attach flags to lamp posts in the Waterside in the run up to 12 July celebrations and the tape roll would be thrown into a box after they had finished erecting the flags.

He claimed someone else who had access to the box could have used the tape roll in the construction of the pipe bombs.

This was rejected by the prosecution, who said if such an innocent explanation was true he should have told this to police at interview but instead he refused to answer questions on the advice of his solicitor.

The court heard the ''crude devices'' consisted of copper piping up to 500 millimetres in length, tape, small gun propellant and they were fitted with ball bearings and nails which acted as shrapnel when the device exploded.

Although they contained low odour explosives, the judge said they were "extremely effective anti-personnel devices capable of inflicting serious injury or death''.

In a pre-sentence report compiled by the probation board, Logan maintained his innocence over his involvement.

The report added that he lacked insight into the serious harm they could have caused to members of the public.

The judge said this was "concerning'' and could be regarded as "minimising the impact such attacks could have on residential homes''.

The pre-sentence report identified no previous mental health difficulties by the defendant or any incidents of self-harm or emotional instability and noted he was in good physical health.

Mr Justice Fowler initially imposed a determinate custodial sentence of eight-and-a-half-years, but he reduced that by six months for the undue delay in bringing the case to trial.

Speaking after sentencing on Friday, Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) Det Insp Mark Gingell said "significant disruption was caused in each of the areas targeted, not just for the occupants but for the local community".

"It caused massive inconvenience and disruption for everyone impacted," he added.

"It is sheer fortune only damage to properties was caused by these devices and none of the occupants – which in one property included a child – were not injured, or worse."