The trial has begun of two teenagers accused of planning to blow up a school in Manchester.
Matthew Swift, 18, and Ross McKnight, 16, are said to have tested a bomb as part of their plot.
It is alleged that they wanted to detonate explosives at Audenshaw
School on the 10th anniversary of the Columbine high school massacre in
the US this April.
A jury at Manchester Crown Court has been told that the pair were
also plotting to plant a bomb in the car park of a busy shopping
precinct nearby in an effort to divert emergency services shortly
before setting off the school bomb.
The pair deny charges of conspiracy to cause explosions and conspiracy to murder.
Prosecutor, Peter Wright QC, said the youths - who were aged 17 and
15 at the time - became obsessed with the 1999 Columbine massacre in
Colorado.
In that incident, two students shot dead 12 fellow pupils and a teacher before eventually turning their guns on themselves.
Mr Wright told the court: "They had discussed, they had fantasised
and eventually they had agreed to convert their fantasies into reality.
"They planned to copy the Columbine killers Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold."
He said Swift and McKnight planned to embark on a killing spree in which they murdered pupils and teachers alike.
The trial continues.
Subject: Teenagers 'Planned Columbine-Style Attack' 
Wed Sep 02, 2009 7:34 am
