A Hampshire man with an "interest in Nazism" has avoided jail after being caught with homemade explosive manuals at Luton Airport.

Charles Cannon, 22, was found with documents and images displaying "extreme right-wing content" that could be useful to a terrorist on his laptop and phone. 

He was also carrying "Nazi memorabilia".

Following a trial at Winchester Crown Court in November, Cannon was convicted of seven counts of possession of documents containing information of a kind likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism. 

Today, he was sentenced to 18 months’ imprisonment, suspended for two years. 

Detective Chief Superintendent Olly Wright, Head of CTPSE said: "It is important to recognise that having downloaded and been in possession of documents of this nature, regardless of which extreme ideology, a terrorism crime has been committed.

"Ignorance of this fact is not an excuse. 

“It was found by a jury that Cannon read and downloaded some of these documents which contained extreme right-wing content, as determined by experts.

“His mindset was also clear from his own words online suggesting he had an interest in Nazism which was compounded by Nazi memorabilia found in his possession. 

“Cannon became obsessed with the subject matter and had the information got into the wrong hands, it could have been useful to someone with terrorist intent.

“I am thankful for the hard work of the unit which has secured this conviction and led to this sentence today.”

Cannon, of Highfield Avenue, Aldershot was stopped at Luton Airport on August 21, 2020.