Chef 'planned Gatwick bomb'

A Portuguese chef planned to bomb Gatwick airport over a failed £1million compensation claim, a court heard today.

Jose Pestana, 41, threatened to use a home-made bomb to kill the manager of Garfunkels restaurant after receiving £22,500 for an injury to his right hand in 1995. He was later sacked.

Lewes Crown Court heard that police raided Pestana's flat in Crawley and found an improvised explosive device under a sofa bed.

Two paper tubes full of firework powder had been strapped to two butane gas cylinders and a fuse, capable of causing a grenade-like explosion.

The area had to be evacuated and an Army bomb disposal team called in to make the bomb safe, the court heard.

Walton Hornsby, prosecuting, said the compensation was "a gross disappointment" to Pestana and he felt "very considerable bitterness against Garfunkels", where he had worked since the early Nineties.

He added: "Mr Pestana made a number of threats that he would, in particular, plant a bomb at Garfunkels and kill the manager and the people who might be there, and that the police would blame Garfunkels."

Pestana's flatmate, Moises De Sousa, told the court that Pestana "went on and on about the money" and threatened to go to Garfunkels "with the bomb under his coat and set it off".

Pestana, a Portuguese national from Madeira, denies two charges related to possessing an explosive substance.

The case continues.