Car bomb husband jailed

Robert Bottom wanted to "shock" his wife

A man who wired a homemade bomb to his wife's car has been jailed for 10 years.

Engineer Robert Bottom, 36, told his wife, Caroline, he was fitting a hands-free mobile phone in her vehicle on Christmas Eve 2001.

But hours later Mrs Bottom was driving to the couple's Rochester home when there was an explosion which blew out the rear windscreen and buckled the front of the car, Maidstone Crown Court heard.

Bottom pleaded guilty to causing an explosion likely to endanger life or cause serious injury to property, while a charge of attempted murder was left on file.

Stressful marriage

Robin Johnson, prosecuting, said it was only after the couple split that Mrs Bottom, who suffered minor injuries in the incident, had the car checked.

The police began investigating after the remains of a theatrical maroon, used to simulate rifle or cannon fire, was found under the driver's seat.

The device had been wired to the indicator.

Bottom was arrested at his home in Hawkinge, Kent, where he was living with his new partner.

He initially told police he had bought some maroons in November in a disco shop in Gillingham and that one must have fallen out of his pocket.

In court, Sunil Rupasinha, defending, said Bottom had wanted "to give a shock to his wife" at a time of stress in the marriage.

Jailing Bottom for 10 years, Judge Andrew Patience told him the sentence was a heavy one to act as a deterrent for an offence of the "utmost gravity".