A FORMER doctor who bought bomb-making ingredients through Amazon and hoarded over 1,000 suspect items including explosive materials and instructions in two Edinburgh flats over seven years, has been jailed for more than three years.

Faris al-Khori, originally from Syria, was arrested in Edinburgh last year when chemicals, poisonous materials, bolts and handwritten notes were discovered, much of which was later destroyed in a controlled explosion.

It was found he had no links to terrorism and prosecutors accepted he had made no attempt to make an explosive device, but the 62-year-old pleaded guilty to being in possession of various items which could be combined to make explosive substances.

At the High Court in Edinburgh, al-Khori, whose agent said he had had an academic interest in the materials, was sentenced to three years and four months in prison.

Items, which included acetone, hydrogen peroxide, mercury and lead picrate, were discovered in April last year after a fire in a communal area of a flat at Fidra Court in Muirhouse.

Fire crews searching the building forced entry to a flat registered to al-Khori and found jars containing various powders.

Castor beans, which can be used to make ricin poison were also found.

The building was evacuated while the substances - some which were years old - were tested.

Handwritten notes and instructions which "appeared to be instructions on how to prepare explosives and bombs" were also discovered.

Further material was later unearthed at a property in Persevere Court, Leith, and explosives experts were called in again.

Al-Khori said the materials were used for cleaning and as fertiliser but in February he pleaded guilty to a breach of the 1883 Explosive Substances Act.

Judge Lady Wolffe said it was accepted there was no terrorist offence committed.

She added: "While you have pled guilty, the schedule lists 41 substances found in your control.

"You assembled large quantities without lawful purpose and some were stored in a high rise flat in a densely populated area.

"They were only found by chance by the fire service."

Speaking before sentence was passed, defence QC Brian McConnachie said: "What seems to be clear from the narrative and material is that it has been directly ordered from legitimate companies, mainly through Amazon.

"The material has always been delivered to domestic addresses and paid for by genuine credit cards registered to Mr al-Khori.

"Many of the items have never been opened.

"It is difficult to understand the hoarding of this material but it does appear that he is someone who has some kind of academic interest in the materials.

"It seems he has accumulated materials with some kind of peculiar interest in the subject without ever intending to do anything or make anything."

Al-Khori, who has been the full-time carer for his wife, was born in Damascus and trained as a doctor in Iraq before moving to Austria.

He has been a British citizen since 1998 but has never practised medicine in the UK.

Detective Superintendent David Gordon, who led the investigation, said: "This was a significant and complex inquiry for Police Scotland, to safely deal with these volatile items and seek to establish Al-Khori's motives for storing them.

"A thorough investigation by the Organised Crime and Counter Terrorism Unit and Crown Office found no known links to terrorist offences and we believe Faris Al-Khori was acting independently.

"However, he showed utter disregard for the occupants of both buildings.

"Thanks to the swift actions of our partners in the Fire Service and armed forces, we were able to quickly assess the contents of the flats and make them safe by removing a number of items for forensic examination or controlled explosion."