Bomb photos e-mailed to Pakistan

Nicky Reilly was the only person injured by his nail bomb

Restaurant bomber Nicky Reilly sent e-mails to Pakistan for advice on making bombs, the BBC has learned.

Reilly, 22, from Plymouth, pleaded guilty on Wednesday to attempted murder at Exeter's Giraffe restaurant in May.

BBC South West's Home Affairs correspondent Simon Hall has been told Reilly e-mailed photos of improvised bombs to contacts in Pakistan.

Detectives are now in discussions with the Pakistani authorities to trace the computer the e-mails were sent to.

Suicide note

Reilly pleaded guilty at the Old Bailey to attempted murder and engaging in the preparation at Exeter's Giraffe restaurant on 22 May.

He made the bombs in glass bottles, one using caustic soda and the other kerosene, which he then filled with about 500 nails.

He had been preparing the attack when a bomb went off in his hands in a toilet cubicle - he was the only person injured.

Simon Hall also revealed why Exeter was chosen as the target of the bombing.

Nicky Reilly pleaded guilty to attempted murder at the Old Bailey

"He [Reilly] had considered Drake's Circus in Plymouth but did not as he feared his family could have been there and got caught in the explosion."

He added that sources have also told him Reilly left a suicide note stuck to his computer which contained a long rant against the way Muslims are treated by the West.

Omar Siddiqui, who was president of the Islamic Society at Plymouth University, knew Reilly by his adopted name of Mohammad Rashid Saeed-Alim.

Mr Siddiqui said the city had a 3,500-strong moderate Muslim community with "no preachers of hate".

Reilly is due to be sentenced on 21 November.