Adelaide man with rocket fuel, dozens of IEDs had an 'unhealthy hobby' making explosives, court hears

A man had five homemade rockets, 27 improvised explosive devices (IEDs) and almost 1.5 kilograms of rocket fuel at his Adelaide home because of his “unhealthy hobby” of manufacturing bombs, a court has heard.

Lawyers for Phillip John Copley told the District Court that his hobby of building the explosive devices became more sophisticated over time as an “exercise in intellectual stimuli”.

But the 52-year-old was injured when black powder exploded, causing emergency services and the police bomb squad to go to his Woodcroft home in September 2019.