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| Version 1 | Version 2 |
|---|---|
| Bomb accused 'wanted explosives' | |
| (41 minutes later) | |
| One of two boys who allegedly conspired to blow up a school asked a teenager to buy hydrogen peroxide so he could "make small explosions", a court has heard. | |
| Phillipa Knowles also told Manchester Crown Court Matthew Swift, 18, said she should have sympathy for the gunmen responsible for the Columbine massacre. | |
| He and Ross McKnight deny conspiracy to murder and cause explosions. | He and Ross McKnight deny conspiracy to murder and cause explosions. |
| They allegedly plotted a killing spree on the 10th anniversary of the massacre at Columbine High School in Colorado. | They allegedly plotted a killing spree on the 10th anniversary of the massacre at Columbine High School in Colorado. |
| 'Project Rainbow' | 'Project Rainbow' |
| Miss Knowles said Mr Swift had comforted her after watching a documentary about the Columbine massacre, which took place on 20 April 1999. | |
| She had been upset by the number of innocent victims shot dead by the killers, Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris, but Mr Swift told her the gunmen deserved sympathy. | |
| Mr Swift and Ross, 16, have been accused of plotting to embark on a secret plan, codenamed Project Rainbow. | Mr Swift and Ross, 16, have been accused of plotting to embark on a secret plan, codenamed Project Rainbow. |
| It is alleged they planned to bomb Crown Point North shopping centre in Denton then carry out a Columbine copycat attack at their school, Audenshaw High School in Greater Manchester. | |
| The jury was told the boys planned to murder teachers and pupils | |
| They were arrested in March, just over a month before they had planned to carry out their killing spree. | They were arrested in March, just over a month before they had planned to carry out their killing spree. |
| During the second day of their trial jurors heard evidence from a number of young witnesses, peers and friends of the accused. | |
| Emily Dutton knew Mr Swift for two years while they studied at the school and attached college. | |
| She told the jury that in a conversation about college life a "grinning" Mr Swift told her that could not wait to leave [school] and that he was going to "come in and shoot everybody up". | |
| "I really did not know what to say," Miss Dutton said. | |
| "I said, 'What, even me?"' | |
| "He said, 'Yes. Mates get it first'. We both kind of went silent." | |
| 'Korean guy' | |
| Another witness, Carl Powell, told the jury Mr Swift, who had the username Eric Harris, after one of Columbine gunmen, on an online gaming website, talked about the massacre with him. | |
| "He did express interest in it, not in a way saying it was fantastic or condoned it, more explained why they did it," he said. | |
| "From my recollection it was just that they were bullied or something like that. | |
| "We used to talk about the Korean guy, he just mentioned that once. | |
| "He was just saying where the guy was coming from. Pretty much the same as Columbine, boredom." | |
| Mr Swift, whose mother died when he was 11, lived with his grandparents and had never known his father. | |
| The court heard that in a statement given to police Miss Knowles said Mr Swift was more likely to harm himself than others, had quite a lot of issues and that he may need counselling. |