A WOMAN has relived the terrifying moment a homemade explosive device hit the window of her flat as she watched TV with her daughter.

Sonia Gibbs wept as she told a jury at Southampton Crown Court how there was a “massive bang” and panic alarms were triggered by the attack.

Police rushed to the scene at Britannic House, Kent Street, Northam, and discovered a cylinder-shaped item wrapped in foil and smelling of gas on the balcony.

An explosives expert was called to inspect the device, which was made using four aerosol canisters and cigarette lighters and had a strong odour of fuel, the court was told.

Christopher Brown, 21, of Cranbury Place, Southampton, is accused of being involved in the plot to create and throw the device.

Miss Gibbs said: “Me and my daughter were sat watching television in my bedroom and we heard a massive bang and all the alarms in the house were going off. I phoned the police and they told me to stay away from the windows. My daughter was scared.

“I rang the police because I didn’t know what it was and I was told it was a gas bomb.”

The court heard that Miss Gibbs – who now lives elsewhere after being advised to move by police – had been the target of similar attacks after breaking up with a previous partner.

Daily Echo:

Britannic House in Kent Street, Northam

She told the jury that paint and eggs had been thrown at the property, but a police investigation ruled out the possibility that her previous partner was involved with the incendiary device being thrown on December 5, 2012.

Hannah Marshall-Nickless, whose partner Ben Williams was friends with Brown at the time, told the court that before the incident she heard Brown say he was having problems with some people and was going to make a bomb and “run them out of the city”.

She said that on the night of the incident she was walking down the street with a friend when Brown ran up behind. The friend then asked Brown whether he had done it and Brown replied: “Yes.”

The court heard that Miss Gibbs had been having problems with a former lodger at her flat who was also friends with Brown.

Prosecutor David Jenkins told the jury that Brown’s fingerprints were found on the device and a diagram of an incendiary device was discovered during a search of his room.

He said: “There has been a veil of silence about who the perpetrators were but the only thing the police can be sure of is that Christopher Brown was party to the plot, probably made the device, and played his part in it being thrown.”

Brown denies charges of conspiracy to commit arson and placing a hoax incendiary device.

Proceeding