A MAN accused of planting a car bomb as part of a terrorist feud spent hours "scouting" the area near his victim's Bolton home, a court was told.

Stanley Curry, aged 47, was captured on a CCTV camera near the house of John Thompson, a friend of Loyalist terrorist Johnny "Mad Dog" Adair.

Curry was seen carrying a backpack, which detectives believe contained the bomb, near the former UDA lieutenants home in Windsor Grove, Halliwell.

A jury at Preston Crown Court was told that camera pictures showed Curry walking down an alleyway near Mr Thompson's home.

He then returned to his van which he had parked near the Victory Reform Club, opposite Windsor Grove.

Mark Ellison, prosecuting, said Curry had earlier been wearing a high visibility jacket, and suggested that he had been trying to pose a a workman.

The court heard that Curry had carried out a reconnaissance mission a month earlier, spending two nights at the Melrose Hotel in Chorley New Road, before planting the bomb on the night of December 16, 2003.

But the bomb failed to go off. As Mr Thompson drove away from his home and over a speed hump at 7am the next morning, he heard a loud bang and stopped the car. Although the detonator had been triggered, the bomb did not explode.

The incident sparked a major security alert which led to homes in the area being evacuated.

Curry, a train driver, of Bilton Grange Road, Yardley, Birmingham, denies a charge of conspiracy with a person or persons unknown to cause an explosion.

The jury was told that the attack was a result of reprisals between warring factions of Loyalist UDA groups in Northern Ireland.

Thompson and 30 people connected to UDA terror boss Johnny Adair, who lives in Horwich, fled from Belfast to Bolton following the shooting of rival paramilitary John "Grug" Gregg.

Mr Ellison told the court that Curry blamed Adair's faction for the killing of Greg and Robert Carson, who were gunned down in a taxi in Belfast in 2003.

The court heard that the bomb contained high explosives that were normally used for mining explosions in Northern Ireland.

The lid was sealed down, and two heavy duty magnets were stuck to the lid, using glue to hold the box on the underside of the car.

Mr Ellison told the jury: "The evidence identifies Stanley Curry as someone who was present in Bolton on the night before the explosion.

"His loyalties lay with those who would very likely want revenge for the death of John Gregg.

"What he was doing that night was connected with this bomb."

Curry was arrested on January 12, 2004, at Manchester Airport.

During an interview, he told police he had come to Bolton to buy football match tickets which he later planned to sell.

The court heard that the police recovered a mobile telephone number from Mr Curry's belongings, which was traced to an unknown person.

Mr Ellison said the billing records showed a "flurry of calls to one number in the run-up to the bomb attack.

Giving evidence, a former friend of Curry who knew him during the six years that he lived in Birmingham, said that she was aware that he had strong loyalist beliefs.

The woman, who did not wish to be identified, said: "To me his beliefs were pretty strong, but a lot of the time I didnt know if it was just talk."

She said she had been puzzled by Curry's reaction to media coverage of the Soham murder trial, as the pair watched television together one day.

She said: "We were talking about how DNA had been used in that case, and Stan said: 'I wonder if they could trace things like gunpowder and mobile phone conversations'.

"He used to look under his car saying he was searching for bombs, but it didn't seem strange at the time."

Her husband told the jury that Curry had once been stopped and quizzed by Special Branch detectives when the three of them had been about to leave Britain for a holiday in Ibiza.

Proceeding