A chef accused of plotting an explosion at Gatwick airport said explosives found in his flat were makeshift fireworks, not home-made bombs.

Jose Pestana told Lewes Crown Court he had intended to set off the devices to celebrate Christmas and New Year.

The 41-year-old Portuguese national, from the island of Madeira, is accused of threatening to bomb Garfunkels in the South Terminal in a revenge attack after he had to give up work following an accident in the kitchen.

Jurors heard police found the devices during a search of Pestana's flat above a parade of shops in Crawley on March 18.

Officers went to the three-bedroom maisonette in Langley Parade, Langley Green, after he was arrested on suspicion of illegally using electricity.

The two devices, made from firework powder wrapped in newspaper and taped to gas canisters, were hidden under a sofa.

Detectives evacuated 25 nearby homes and shops and an Army bomb disposal unit made the devices safe.

Pestana admitted making the devices but told the court he had no intention of plotting to bomb the restaurant.

Speaking through an interpreter, he said: "I am not somebody who would kill somebody. I have not got that power. I never thought of doing anything bad to them.

"All of this will make people think I intended to damage or harm people but it is not like me."

Pestana admitted he had felt unfairly treated by Garfunkels.

The court had earlier heard from two of his former flatmates, both Portuguese, who said he talked constantly about his unfair treatment and threatened to blow up the restaurant. Pestana told the jury they had misunderstood him.

Pestana, who told the court he moved to England in 1990 to find work and see the Queen, said he had worked at different branches of the restaurant chain for five years before seriously injuring his finger in a 1995 accident. He received £22,500 compensation.

He said he made the devices in the summer of 2002. He intended to let them off at Christmas and New Year because it was a Portuguese tradition.

"I was going to the forest to see if I could send them into the air. If not, I was going to light them behind a tree and run."

Pestana has denied illegally possessing explosive substances and unlawfully and maliciously having explosive substances with intent to endanger life or damage property.

The trial continues.