Islamic convert Isa Ibrahim made himself a bomb in Bristol intending to use it in the footsteps of his 9/11 and 7/7 hero martyrs, a court heard.

Winchester Crown Court heard how the student, originally called Andrew, underwent a radical character shift after converting to Islam in 2006.

When police raided his one-bedroom flat at Comb Paddock, Westbury-on-Trym, in April 2008, they found a family sized biscuit tin containing a home made explosive, an electrical circuit with button detonator and a white cotton vest with panels at the front and back similar to those worn by suicide bombers.

Ibrahim, aged 20, denies making an explosive substance with intent, in that he made the explosive hexamethylene triperoxide diamine (HMTD) with the intention to endanger life or cause serious injury to property in the UK.

He also denies the preparation of terrorism acts, in that he researched the manufacture of explosives, bought materials to make them, made them and also bought materials to detonate them – as well as identifying a place to do so.

He has pleaded guilty to simply making an explosive substance.

Ibrahim, with bushy dark hair and wearing a navy blue polo shirt with horizontal stripes, sat in the dock of court one flanked by four security staff.

Directly above him in the public gallery were seated his parents.

Mark Ellison QC, prosecuting, told the court that in the four to five months leading to the arrest Ibrahim had dressed in Islamic clothes and talked of attacks such as the 911 suicide attacks on the World Trade Centre as a justified response to US and UK aggression to Muslims.

Mr Ellison told the jury: “He said he would like to go to Iraq or Palestine and join the fighting.

“He said the UK was like living in a dirty toilet with a minefield outside.”

Mr Ellison said that from December 2008 Ibrahim began to concentrate on media connected to Palestine, as well as militant Muslim groups and preacher Abu Hamza.

The court heard that in March 2008 Ibrahim was looking into the background and beliefs of those responsible for the suicide bombings in London in July, 2005.

Mr Ellison said: “By March into April, 2008, much of his focus was on suicide operations in Iraq and elsewhere and acts of martyrdom being one of the highest acts of faith, bringing great rewards in heaven.”

The jury heard Ibrahim also involved himself in computer games and attended City of Bristol College, where he studied chemistry, biology, history and English at AS A-level.

All the while, said Mr Ellison, he was immersing himself more and more into the kind of extremist ideology espoused by the likes of Osama Bin Laden, and researching the conspiracy of a war on Muslims which meant people in the US and UK were seen as the enemy of Islam as they elected Western leaders.

Mr Ellison said the student’s descent into this mind-set was against a background of problems in his life.

The court was told that at the beginning of 2007 he had a drug addiction and was homeless aged 18.

With the help of the Priority Youth Housing group he was able to get hostel accommodation in St Georges Road, Bristol, where it was noted that he appeared to be a devout Muslim but would lapse into Western clothes during times of drug misuse.

Ibrahim’s friend Jack Everson told how Ibrahim had said his parents had disowned him and he would speak of Abu Hamza and Osama Bin Laden.

The jury also heard Ibrahim got a large number of books from Bristol library on subjects such as why there was 911 and examining Islamic extremism.

Mr Ellison said Ibrahim was also heard to ask questions as college about germ warfare.

The prosecution has catalogued Ibrahim’s use of search terms on the internet, the court heard.

They included him downloading a “living will” speech made by London suicide bomber Mohammed Sadique Khan, in which he said: “Are words are dead until we give them life with our blood.”

MR Ellison said: “In December 2007 something seemed to change, first his physical appearance then his views also changed.

“He started talking about conspiracies in the Government and started expressing anti-American views and started handing out anti-war leaflets.”

Mr Ellison added: “He dressed predominantly in Muslim dress and appeared to be very devout and serious about his new religion.

“But at times he reverted to Western dress and ideas and that was usually coincidental with drug use.

“He appeared to be waxing and waning the degree to which he was observing his new religion.”

Mr Ellison said that Ibrahim began to express increasingly radicalised opinions and even had a poster of the 9/11 attacks on his bedroom wall.

He told a fellow student that he sympathised with suicide bombers, believed the Pentagon should have been bombed and that nuclear weapons were “cool”.

Mr Ellison said that Ibrahim read a large number of books analysing terrorist attacks such as those on the World Trade Centre in New York.

He also looked extensively at websites devoted to radical Islam and the jury was shown internet footage including the “living will” recorded by Mohammad Sidique Khan, one of the suicide bombers who attacked London in July 2005.

Mr Ellison said: “He seemed to hold very strong views on various topics and felt his view should prevail.”

The science student also asked a visiting biology lecturer about biological weapons, according to Mr Ellison.

He said: “He said that he had been reading about microbiology and that it was used to kill people.

“He asked which are the best ones and how they could be found. She didn’t answer in any more than general terms and she did report their conversation to college management.”

The case continues.