Bomber jail term doubled

AN OLDHAM man who was jailed after he dressed up as Crocodile Dundee and blew up a bomb outside a family home has had his sentence doubled by top judges.

Mark Anthony Schiavo (53), of Ashton Road, Oldham, manufactured the improvised device after dismantling 64 commercial fireworks rockets at his home last April.

Dressed in shorts, long coat and black hat, and carrying a hunting knife in a sheath, he left it at the door of a house in Victoria Avenue East, Blackley.

The device exploded, tearing the door apart, showering the drive with debris and causing such damage to a car that it had to be written off.

When police raided his home afterwards, they found £43,000 worth of Class C diazepam tablets and over £25,000 in counterfeit £20 notes.

The former fireworks wholesaler admitted causing an explosion likely to endanger life, having the knife and currency, and possessing the drugs with intent to supply.

He was jailed for three-and-a-half years at Manchester Crown Court in January but on Friday, after a reference by attorney general Jeremy Wright QC, three senior Court of Appeal judges doubled Schiavo's "unduly lenient" sentence.

Lord Justice Davis said the attack was far from the "prank" Schiavo had claimed it was.

He told the court: "Just taken on its own, this explosives offence was a very serious matter.

"The offender had used his knowledge of fireworks to create the device.

"Having done so, he went out into public and deployed it."