Skinhead extremist who admired Norwegian mass murderer Anders Breivik had bizarre arsenal of weapons

Tobias Ruth is an admirer of Norwegian mass murderer Anders Breivik and has already served a prison term for a hate campaign against mosques

An extremist has been jailed for building up a bizarre arsenal of weapons to guard against ‘the apocalypse’.

Tobias Ruth is an admirer of Norwegian mass murderer Anders Breivik and has already served a prison term for a hate campaign against mosques.

He is obsessed with weapons and was found with a home-made stun gun, an air rifle, and a large collection of knives when police raided his home in Torquay in August.

Ruth, aged 24, was jailed after a judge at Exeter Crown Court was told he is a ‘doomsday crank’ who is preparing for an apocalypse.

He had made the stun gun by combining two electrically powered fly zappers but the gadget did not work when it was tested by the police

His air gun was a .22 Westlake which would normally have been legal to own but which he was banned from keeping because of his earlier conviction.

Ruth, of Lymington Road, Torquay, admitted possessing an illegal weapon which was adapted for the discharge of electricity and of possessing a firearm within five years of being released from prison.

He was jailed for 18 months by Recorder Mr Martin Meeke, QC, who told him:”You have an unnatural fascination with weapons but no previous convictions for firearms offences.”

Mr Kenneth Bell, prosecuting, said Ruth’s home was searched on August 7 and the two weapons were found, along with a large collection of knives which he was allowed to own.

He said Ruth had built a device out of two electric fly swats but tests by the police showed it was not viable in its current form. Officers also recovered the air gun.

He said Ruth has previous convictions for having a knuckle duster and a knife in public and was barred from owning any form of firearm because of his previous sentence.

Mr Kevin Hopper, defending, said Ruth had not taken the two weapons out of his property or used them to threaten anyone. He said the fly zapper was effectively harmless.

He said:”There is concern expressed in the pre-sentence report about his right-wing views and whether he is dangerous. In the past he has printed off right wing manuals but that was in 2013.

“He has not been before the courts regularly for serious offences and there is a lack of aggravating features.

“He describes himself as believing in the apocalypse and being a doomsday crank but the weapons were indoors and there is no suggestion he carried them with him.

“The issue is more about his unhealthy interest in weapons in general.”

Ruth served a 19-month sentence in 2014 for his part in six-month spree in which he and his friend John Roddy sprayed the letters KT on 72 buildings in honour of Breivik’s Order of the Knights Templar.

They branded each other with hot irons to initiate themselves in Breivik’s Order of the Knights Templar and then sprayed the letters KT on 72 buildings, signs or cars around Torbay.

The most serious attack was on the Torquay Islamic Centre where the pair followed up a spate of racist graffiti with a threatening letter.

The two youths sent poison pen style letters to Mosques or Islamic prayer centres in Plymouth and Brighton and were planning to send them to others all around Britain.

All their messages read:”Leave this town today or there will be hell to pay”.

Roddy’s laptop contained Breivik’s Manifesto and the Al Qaeda training manual. A sweet tin was found full of cut out words and letters from magazines which they were using in their threatening messages.

Roddy, aged 20, also of Lymington Road, Torquay, was jailed for 23 months, suspended for two years, at the time of the original case.

Devon Live