A WOULD-BE suicide bomber who caused mayhem at Gatwick after a hand grenade was found in his luggage has been jailed for six years.

Hazil Rahaman-Alan, 39, was jailed at the Old Bailey after admitting having the grenade with intent to endanger life and having a dangerous article on a plane.

Judge Gerald Gordon recommended Rahaman-Alan be deported to his native Venezuela after serving his sentence.

Rahaman-Alan was not a terrorist but suffered from depression, the court was told.

Nor could his grenade explode as the detonator was missing.

But the discovery forced the evacuation and closure of the airport's busy North Terminal for six hours.

It was one of the biggest security scares at the airport for almost a decade.

Some 2,000 staff and passengers were evacuated, more than 100 flights were cancelled and around 150 people had to sleep in the lobby of the nearby Le Meridian Hotel.

Rahaman-Alan told police he wanted to blow himself up in an open area, possibly a park, to draw attention to the plight of others.

Interviewed after his arrest, he said he had intended to find an open but public space to demonstrate with the grenade to attract the attention of the authorities and the media.

Nicholas Dean QC, prosecuting, said: "He said the grenade would be his microphone to the world."

Rahaman-Alan said he wanted to help humanity and the plight of the world's children.

Michael Turner QC, defending, said Rahaman-Alan had been devastated by the death of his father in 1998, which had led to the break-up of his marriage.

He added that Rahaman-Alan had an utter disregard for his own life and did not foresee the danger to others when he arrived at Gatwick in February 2003.