A man has been found guilty of possession of explosives with intent to endanger life or property after a pipe bomb was found in his hand luggage at Manchester Airport.

Nadeem Muhammad, 43, of Tinline Street, Bury, sobbed in the dock at Manchester Crown Court after the jury returned its verdict on Tuesday.

The court had heard he was planning to board a Ryanair flight to Italy on January 30 when security officers uncovered the device, made of masking tape, batteries, the tube of a marker pen, pins and wires, in the zip lining of his small green suitcase.

Muhammad claimed in court that he had never seen the device before and that it had nothing to do with him.

The jury reached a majority verdict of 10 to two on the charge following 15 hours and 45 minutes of deliberations.

During the trial it was revealed that security officers at the airport had not initially believed the bomb was viable and, after being questioned by counter terrorism police when the device was discovered, Muhammad was released and allowed to board another flight to Bergamo, near Milan, five days later.

The court heard Muhammad, who was born in Pakistan but had an Italian passport, was planning to detonate the bomb once on board the Boeing 737.

The "crude improvised explosive device" was discovered by airport security when his hand luggage went through scanners at the airport.

But when airport security swabbed the bomb, there was no trace of explosives on the outside and officers did not believe it was a viable device.

It was initially kept in the pocket of Deborah Jeffrey, the security manager at terminal three, before being handed to police.

Muhammad was questioned by officers from the counter terrorism unit but released.

He returned to the airport the following day to collect his mobile phone, which had been taken by police, and then again on February 5 when he boarded another flight to Italy.

It was only on February 8 when the device was examined by forensics officers that suspicions were raised and the bomb squad was called.

The explosive was then sent for examination by expert Lorna Philp, who found it was a "crude but potentially viable improvised explosive device".

The device contained double base smokeless propellant, normally found in firearms ammunition, which was made up of nitroglycerin and nitrocellulose.

Italian police raided Muhammad's home and workplace on February 9 and took him to a police station.

But he was released again after a couple of hours and on February 12 boarded another flight back to the UK.

He was arrested when he arrived back at Manchester Airport.

Muhammad had told the trial he was surprised to see the bomb when it was found in his bag and it had nothing "at all" to do with him.

He told the court: "I had never seen it before."

Muhammad, whose wife was in court throughout the trial, cried loudly as he was remanded in custody by Judge Patrick Field QC.

He is due to be sentenced on August 23.

Following the sentencing, Sue Hemming, head of the special crime and counter terrorism division in the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), said: "Despite extensive investigation, Nadeem Muhammad's motive for attempting to take this device onto a plane remains unknown.

"However it is clear that the consequences, had he been successful, could have been disastrous."