A terrorist who was foiled with the help of a regional daily has been jailed for eight years.

Nikolaos Karvounakis has been sentenced for planting the device, which was found on 11 January 2018 in Edinburgh’s Princes Street Gardens.

The Edinburgh Evening News last month revealed its part in capturing Karvounakis after he claimed responsibility for planting the bomb in an email to the newspaper.

He has now been sentenced to eight years and four months in prison, providing a splash for the EEN on Thursday.

Karvounakis had previously pleaded guilty under the Terrorism Act.

Advocate depute Angela Gray told the High Court in Edinburgh: “The offence involved a high degree of culpability on your part as shown by the significant degree of planning.”

“Afterwards you appeared to exult in the commission in your claim of responsibility.”

His email to the police was headed ‘International Terrorist Group in UK’ and contained a single line written entirely in capital letters: “International terrorist group ‘ITS’, claim responsability [sic] to Edinburgh bomb.”

Subsequent enquiries by the paper revealed the organisation to be a Mexican eco-terror group and the EEN contacted Police Scotland for a comment.

In response, a call came direct to editor Euan McGrory’s office, asking whether he would be willing to meet a senior counter-terrorism officer the following day.

The email became a “key part in the investigation” to trace Karvounakis.