Bomb maker sentenced

Photo: Deborah Pfeiffer

The Penticton man responsible for making an explosive device that went off in his neighbourhood was sentenced on Monday.

Matthew Nason, who was born in 1976, was given a $1,000 fine for the first charge of making or possessing explosives, and a suspended sentence and three years probation for storage of firearms contrary to regulation.

According to Crown Counsel John Swanson, Nason was playing around with information he found on the Internet on how you can make explosives.

In June of this year, he put some explosive material in a pipe, but subsequently thought that the pipe was empty after he took it out in the bush, and it didn't go off properly.

He then left the pipe sitting by a fence when he returned to his home on Windsor Avenue. It was heated up by the sun and exploded.

The bomb squad from Vancouver responded to the incident on June 6. During a search of the home, rifles without trigger locks were also discovered, resulting in the charge of storage of firearms contrary to regulations.

Robert Maxwell was the defence lawyer for Nason. Judge Gale Sinclair handed down the sentence.

Nason was also given a firearms prohibition for 10 years.