By NOOR QURASHI, NEWS REPORTER
Video captured the moment a man blew up a Ulez camera with a home-made bomb on a street in south east London.
Kevin Rees, 63, is facing jail after his 'low-sophistication' device exploded in Willersley Avenue, Sidcup, on December 6, 2023.
Striking CCTV footage shows the full impact of the eruption - causing sparks to rain down, cars to shake and the destruction of a child's bedroom 28 metres away.
Traffic can be seen drawing to a halt as the lights flash on parked vehicles nearby and their sirens blare due to the sudden blast.
Rees, a retired domestic service engineer, had insisted he had 'no involvement whatsoever' in the incident.
New photos reveal the aftermath of the detonation with large cracks visible across car windscreens, broken window frames on homes and fallen lampposts.
Rees was arrested by counter terror police after after the improvised explosive device (IED) damaged the ULEZ camera following its detonation at 6.45pm.
The camera was shattered into pieces as Rees lit the fuse on a metal cylinder filled with explosive powder.
Rees had set up an online group celebrating destruction of the controversial cameras and called himself The Exterminator on Facebook Messenger.
Striking CCTV footage shows the full impact of the eruption - causing sparks to rain down, cars to shake and the destruction of a child's bedroom 28 metres away
A bright flash of white light is emitted as the 'low-sophistication' device explodes in Willersley Avenue, Sidcup
Kevin Rees (pictured), a retired domestic service engineers, has insisted he had 'no involvement whatsoever' in the incident
By 'pure chance' no-one was injured, Woolwich Crown Court heard.
Rees, of Harcourt Avenue, Sidcup, denied but was convicted of causing an explosion likely to endanger life or cause serious injury to property.
He also denied three counts of possessing working order home-made stun guns on or before 18 December 2023.
Prosecutor Simon Denison KC, told jurors: 'This case is about an explosion that was deliberately caused to destroy an Ultra Low Emission Zone camera that had been installed in a residential road called Willersley Avenue, Sidcup.
'The prosecution case is that this defendant, Kevin Rees, is the person who deliberately caused that explosion.
'He did it by placing a home-made explosive device, a metal cylinder filled with explosive powder, next to the camera and lighting the fuse that gave him time to move away from it before it exploded.'
Mr Denison said the camera was installed on December 6, 2023, and cut down at 5.10pm later that day by a person, not Rees, who 'took a chain-saw to the pole on which the camera was mounted'.
At 6.45pm, just over an hour and half later, the explosion occurred.
A smashed windscreen is pictured on a car nearby to where the improvised explosive device (IED) was detonated
A fallen lampost can be seen - in the foreground of an image which shows the damage caused to a black van
The tyre on a red car was even deflated - with the impact of the blast in south east London stretching far and wide
Damage was caused to houses - including a child's bedroom which was 28 metres away. A damaged window frame is pictured
A small outhouse was also damaged in the blast - with property affected far and wide due to the explosion in Sidcup
Even brick walls weren't safe for the impact - a damaged property wall is pictured as bits of it lie on the floor
Two of three home-made stun guns found at the property of Kevin Rees are pictured in a handout issued by police
'It's force was such that people in houses nearby felt their houses shake', Mr Denison said.
'Pieces of shrapnel ripped through the passenger side of a passing car - one piece of shrapnel passed through the passenger door, mercifully it was just below where the passenger was sitting.
'The side of a van that was parked on the other side of the road was ripped open by part of the camera that was propelled across the road.
'Damage was caused to nearby houses, including shrapnel damage to a child's bedroom 28 metres away - mercifully, again, the room was unoccupied.
'One piece of the camera was propelled over 100 metres into the upper part of a house, it was pure chance that no-one suffered serious injury, or worse.'
Rees, who lives a few minutes drive away from Willersley Avenue, was described in court as a 'committed campaigner against the ULEZ scheme'.
'His social media included many posts in which he criticised the scheme and celebrated damage to or the destruction of ULEZ cameras', the court heard.
The prosecutor said that CCTV footage 'recorded the same man' in and around Willersley Avenue throughout the evening, telling jurors: 'That man was the defendant.
Pictured is Willersley Avenue in Sidcup, south east london - Rees previously said he had no involvement whatsover in the incident
Forensics are pictured examining the site following the explosion - which took place at about 6.45pm
'(The footage) shows a man wearing a light-coloured top and dark trousers, and carrying a light-coloured bag, walking out of Shuttle Close and round to Willersley Avenue, where he walked up and down for a few minutes, no doubt looking for the camera.
'It was on the far side of the road from where he first was, and would have been harder to see because it had been cut down.
'But having crossed the road, and found the camera, he lit the fuse and placed the cylinder on the ground next to the junction box.
'He then walked, and then ran, away - the device exploded about 1 minute 40 seconds after he had lit the fuse.
'About ten minutes later he returned to Shuttle Close, and the cameras then captured the defendant's car driving out of Shuttle Close and back to his home.
'When he got out of his car at home, the light-coloured bag no longer contained the cylindrical object.
'He was carrying a long thin flex that resembled something from which he could have cut a fuse.'
Mr Denison said a man called Jamie York witnessed the explosion when out walking.
The remnants of the IED are pictured lying next to the fallen lampost after the Ulez camera was shattered into pieces
'Mr York saw (a man) was a holding a cylinder in both hands, which Mr York thought was about a foot in length.
'The man then lit the cylinder - there was an orange spark, and the man then carried it in both hands at waist height to the grass verge where he placed it on the ground,' he said.
The witness described the explosion, Mr Denison said, as a 'massive bang' that 'was so loud and intense that it felt like it caused me to jolt forward.'
The court heard that Rees was arrested on 18 December while dropping his wife off at Sidcup station.
The prosecutor said he asked officers: 'Has this got something to do with the ULEZ Facebook sites I was using?'
A police search of Rees' address led to the recovery of 'three home-made stun guns' in working order, which Mr Denison said could 'be used as a weapon to inflict pain and cause loss of muscle control'.
'On the wall in the loft space was a price list for a range of chemicals from a company called Paramount Elements Ltd, the list was dated June 2021.
'There were marks alongside some of the chemicals - the chemicals listed could be used in the manufacture of low explosives such as could be used in fireworks,' the prosecutor added.
At his parents' address police found a 'sealed postal package' addressed to Rees containing 100g of aluminium powder and a plastic bag found to contain 331g of iron oxide.
Examination of Rees' social media showed him, the prosecutor said, to be 'someone who was strongly opposed to ULEZ cameras and the ULEZ scheme.
'(He would) inform others of new cameras being put up, and to encourage the damage or destruction of ULEZ cameras and celebrate it when it happened.
'They found that in May 2023 he had set up a Facebook group called "ULEZ CAMARAS" where he posted 'a number of images of damaged ULEZ cameras with comments celebrating them', Mr Denison added.
In one message Rees allegedly called himself 'The Exterminator' and in others directed a fellow user to a website where he would find 'all the trees that need pruning'.
Mr Denison added: 'The defendant denies that he was the person who caused the explosion.
'If you are sure that he was, given that he left what was in effect a powerful bomb next to a busy road in a residential area where people were out walking, you may have little difficulty in concluding that he is guilty of that offence.'
Rees, of Harcourt Avenue, Sidcup, denied but was convicted of causing an explosion likely to endanger life or cause serious injury to property and three counts of possessing a prohibited weapon.
Detective Superintendent James Derham, who leads local policing in the Bexley area, said: 'It was miraculous that nobody was killed or seriously injured in the large explosion caused by Rees.
'He showed a complete disregard for the welfare and safety of the people who live in, or were travelling through, the area at the time of the explosion - all because he was unhappy with the ULEZ scheme.
'His conviction has been possible due to the commitment and professionalism of our CTP (Counter Terrorism Police) London Detectives, supported by our frontline policing colleagues in Bexley.
'I'd like to thank the local community for their support and understanding while we responded and investigated this incident, and I hope this sends a very strong message of the dangers and consequences of using home-made explosives.
'Damage of any kind is completely unacceptable, and this particular incident demonstrates the very serious consequences for those responsible when taken to this extreme.'
Rees will be sentenced on a date to be fixed.
