Two men who sent parcel bombs to Celtic manager Neil Lennon and other high-profile fans of the club have each been jailed for five years.

Trevor Muirhead, 44, of Kilwinning, and Neil McKenzie, 42, of Saltcoats, both North Ayrshire, plotted to assault Lennon, former MSP Trish Godman and the late QC Paul McBride, as well as people at the Irish republican organisation Cairde Na hEireann, by sending devices they believed were capable of exploding and causing severe injury.

Both were originally accused of conspiring to murder their targets, but that charge was thrown out a day before the trial concluded at the High Court in Glasgow due to insufficient evidence.

McKenzie was also jailed for 18 months – which will run at the same time as his five-year sentence – after being found guilty of a separate charge of posting a hoax bomb to Lennon at Celtic Park to make him believe it was likely to explode.

Muirhead was cleared of the charge with a not proven verdict.

Sentencing them, trial judge Lord Turnbull said their actions were "incomprehensible".

Muirhead and McKenzie were convicted last month. The jury heard McKenzie told police he learned how to make a hoax bomb after seeing it on TV show The A-Team.

Giving evidence during the trial, Lennon said he was left "very disturbed" after finding out he had been targeted.

The assault plot centred on four suspicious packages, all of them non-viable, which were discovered last spring.

A second device sent to Lennon at Celtic's Lennoxtown training ground was intercepted at a sorting office in Kirkintilloch on March 26 last year when a postman spotted a nail protruding from the package. It tested positive for peroxide, which can be used to make explosives.

Two days later a package delivered to Ms Godman's Bridge of Weir constituency office caused the evacuation of the building. Liquid in a plastic bottle within the package tested positive for a small amount of the primary explosive triacetone triperoxide.

Also on March 28, a postman tried to deliver a package to Cairde Na hEireann in Glasgow. After two failed attempts, it was sent to the Royal Mail's National Returns Centre in Belfast, where it was found to contain potentially explosive peroxide.

The last package, found on April 15 in a postbox on Montgomerie Terrace, Kilwinning, was addressed to the late Mr McBride. The lawyer, who died days before he was due to give evidence, was known to have represented Lennon and Celtic.

McKenzie blew a kiss to his family as he was led away from the dock while Muirhead looked at the floor and shook his head.

The judge, Lord Turnbull, told them: "It is incomprehensible that two family men, in their 40s, would engage in such reckless and serious criminal conduct."

He added: "Even the sending of a package as a bomb hoax would always be a serious offence and would be bound to result in a custodial sentence."

Celtic chief executive Peter Lawwell said: "We are pleased with the way in which this case has been treated and once again we would like to thank Strathclyde Police for their support and assistance. We hope this sentence will send a signal to others that this kind of behaviour cannot be tolerated."

Mr McBride's friend, lawyer Aamer Anwar, said: "There will be disappointment those who committed these hate crimes could be out in three years, but Paul's name will live on long after these bigots have been forgotten."