A MAN who offered a pipe bomb to a friend, leading to a major police operation and terrifying people on a Newport estate, was jailed for four years yesterday.

Bomb disposal officers were called in to deal with the device on November 12 last year, taking it to a field at Bettws School and carrying out a controlled explosion.

Dozens of residents were evacuated. Newport crown court heard that Wayne Green, of Nidd Close, Bettws, offered the pipe bomb to a friend and suggested he put it under a car to scare someone.

He later told police the bomb was intended to frighten rather than cause injury.

The 35-year-old, who said he got the device from a friend he refused to name, had earlier pleaded guilty to being in possession of an explosive substance.

The bronze pipe was filled with 24 grams of firework powder. Judge Christopher Llewellyn-Jones, QC, said: "Your intent was for fear and not violence but there was the possibility of it being used violently. "It was quite plainly a device that could put someone in severe fear."

Judge Llewellyn-Jones said the pipe was flattened and folded at each end and contained "flash powder" used in fireworks.

He said the pipe had the capacity for a fuse to be inserted that could ignite the powder, possibly breaking the pipe and causing fragments to be propelled by the force of the explosion.

He said: "There was the potential to damage property or injure people in close proximity."

The judge said the offence was so serious that only custody could be justified.

Eugene Egan, prosecuting, said Green's friend David Olsen was in a dispute with a business partner David Toon. In a bid to resolve the situation, Green offered Mr Olsen the bomb and suggested he put it under Mr Toon's car. Mr Olsen refused the device and informed police.

A search warrant was executed at Green's home and he showed officers to the bomb he had under his bed.

Mr Egan said Green had been jailed in 1992 for seven years for armed robbery.

Martin Brown, defending, said Green acted "foolishly and stupidly" when he decided to get the "amateurish" device from a friend. Mr Brown said it was likely the person setting off the device would injure themselves as they would have little time to get away.