Staff members at an Ellesmere Port glass recycling firm have been praised for helping to put a vile fanatic behind bars.

Ian Forman, 42, whose obsession with Hitler saw him nicknamed Adolf by sickened colleagues at Manisty (Recresco Ltd), planned to explode crude bombs packed with nails, home-made gunpowder and ball-bearings at mosques across Merseyside.

Forman, of Shavington Avenue, Oxton, was branded “evil” by a judge for his planned bombing campaign against Penny Lane Mosque, in Mossley Hill, and the Wirral Islamic Centre, near his home in Birkenhead.

He was sentenced to 10 years in jail.

The Hitler obsessive stockpiled chemicals, drew up a shopping list of bomb components after months of internet research and even created spreadsheets for the prices of items he needed.

Forman, who frequently expressed his racist ideology and views against the disabled to friends and workmates, also posted on YouTube about “Mosques lighting up the sky to keep us warm in the winter”.

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Jailing him, judge Paul Dodgson said: “You are someone who has held extreme right-wing views for a number of years.

“A number of your messages express your admiration for Adolf Hitler – an admiration that led you to have parts of an SS uniform in your bedroom – and you intended in due course to obtain a mannequin so the uniform could be displayed in full.”

Forman first came to the attention of police in April last year while he worked as a receptionist at Manisty, a glass recycling firm in Ellesmere Port.

Horrified colleagues discovered that while at work he had been researching how to obtain dangerous chemicals on the internet.

The company decided they should call in the police and his home was entered and searched last year.

Under his bed, officers found containers of sulphur, potassium nitrate and charcoal – the three components of gunpowder – and a home-made explosive device hidden in his bedroom cupboard.

Forman was arrested last June when the North West Counter-Terrorism Unit descended on Shavington Avenue.

Ian Charles Forman was jailed for 10 years for terrorism offences
Ian Charles Forman was jailed for 10 years for terrorism offences

In interview, he admitted having extreme right-wing views in his youth but claimed he no longer thought like that.

But when police officers later discovered more incriminating material held on computers – research into a number of mosques in the Merseyside area, video clips showing Forman experimenting with explosives and an anti-Islam video – the former DWP worker was re-arrested under terror laws.

David Mason QC, defending, told Kingston Crown Court Forman had found prison “extremely difficult” due to the number of inmates from ethnic communities, adding: “Everything this man did was geared towards his hatred for members of the ethnic community.

“In the witness box he came across rather pathetic, but very bright, holding appalling views, but not your average terrorist.”

Forman was named on the terrorist register after being found guilty of planning to commit terrorist acts.

DS Ian Hassall, who led the investigation, said workers at Manisty raised the alarm after Forman used company PCs to research explosives.

DS Hassall, from the North West counter-terrorism unit, said: “The company brought this to our attention and we thank them.

“While we will never know what Forman’s true intentions were, he had devices that were capable of injuring and maiming.

“We will always rigorously investigate information that is brought to our attention.”