'Ginger jihadi' who radicalised himself online in his Welsh valleys home is jailed for 28 months for downloading ISIS terror manuals

• Police say mindset of Nathan Saunders was 'worrying' when he was arrested 
• He sought out details on 'lone wolf' attacks and making homemade bombs
• 24-year-old from Tredegar, Blaenau Gwent, was jailed at Old Bailey in London
• Saunders was nicknamed the 'Ginger Jihadi' by neighbours in his quiet street 

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Nathan Saunders sought out ISIS information on how to carry out 'lone wolf' attacks and making homemade bombs

A 'ginger jihadi' who radicalised himself online from his Welsh valleys home has been jailed for more than two years for downloading ISIS terror manuals.

Nathan Saunders, of Tredegar, Blaenau Gwent, sought out Islamic State details on how to carry out 'lone wolf' attacks and make homemade bombs.

The 24-year-old has now been sentenced to 28 months in prison at the Old Bailey in London after anti-terror police arrested him in Cardiff in February.

Police said this gave them 'a worrying indication of his mindset at that time' and they were concerned about 'the potential direction of his behaviour'.

Saunders was arrested in a joint investigation by the North East Counter Terrorism Unit and Wales' Extremism and Counter Terrorism Unit.

He admitted five charges of possessing a record of information likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism.

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Saunders has been jailed for 28 months after anti-terror police arrested him in February

Assistant Chief Constable Jon Drake of South Wales Police said: 'Extremism and radicalisation is something that we continue to be constantly vigilant about.

'Saunders was arrested as part of a pre-planned and intelligence-led operation between counter terrorism officers here in Wales and in the North East.

'It is through this effective partnership working that he was apprehended, which prevented him going on to commit even more serious offences and putting the public in danger.'

Saunders was nicknamed the 'Ginger Jihadi' by neighbours in his quiet street.

One person who knew him said: 'As far as we were concerned he was quite normal until he went all weird and grew this big ginger beard. We feel sorry for his family.'