Nail bomber jailed

A man was jailed for three years today for planting a nail bomb at an Indian restaurant.

Ryan Dudney wrapped a gas cylinder with taped nails and set fire to newspaper to ignite it behind the Raj Cafe in Well Hall Road, Eltham, south-east London, in October. The restaurant was in the same road where Stephen Lawrence was killed.

He had also placed 37 nails and screws in a Ribena bottle to increase the shrapnel, said Mark Gadsden, prosecuting, at the Old Bailey.

But the device did not explode and the charred tool bag in which it was hidden was later found and handed in to police.

Dudney's mother Yvonne recognised it and called police because she thought it was a "cry for help".

Dudney, a 22-year-old asphalter, of Pinnell Road, Eltham, pleaded guilty to making an explosive substance, a nail bomb, and causing criminal damage the night before by breaking the window of the restaurant.

Judge Jeremy Roberts said there had been no racial motive for the incident, which had been brought about by drink and drugs.