Former soldier jailed over weapons stash in shed

A convicted paedophile and former soldier who had a fascination with the Nazis and firearms has been jailed for terrorism and weapons offences.

Paul Page, 52, of Littleport in Cambridgeshire, collected landmines, grenades, rifles, ammunition and chemicals in a shed which he described as a “man cave” and “personal museum”.

Police found more than 600 weapons stockpiled at his home and in March, Page admitted a string of terrorism, explosives and firearms charges.

Sentencing him to six years in prison at the Old Bailey earlier, Judge Richard Marks KC said Page had an “obsession with weapons and tools”.

Cambridgeshire Police started investigating Page over reports he downloaded child abuse images and they uncovered more than 250 illegal images on his devices.

In August 2023 he was jailed for 20 months after admitting three charges of making indecent images of children.

But during a search of his home, officers had also discovered a hoard of Nazi flags, World War Two weapons and chemicals in an outbuilding.

Counter-terrorism officers established Page had more than 600 weapons and other militaria linked to Nazi activity during World War Two.

Police said although much of this was legal memorabilia, he was in possession of prohibited items including landmines, grenades, rifles and ammunition.

Hannah Wilkinson is assistant chief officer for the Eastern Region Special Operations Unit, which is made up of counter-terrorism personnel.

“We also discovered two instruction manuals – one for how to put together a gun and another for how to make a bomb – and those two items are prohibited under the Terrorism Act.”

Even though Page said he kept the stash under lock and key, Marks said the property was in a residential area and potentially within reach of children if he was not “100% vigilant”.

Had the shed been burgled and the items got into the wrong hands, “the consequences could have been very serious”, the judge added.

During police interviews, Page denied holding an extreme right-wing mindset, despite having an email address which referenced numbers associated with Adolf Hitler and a tattoo linked to white supremacy, police said.

Page had pleaded guilty to two counts of possessing a document or record likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism.

He also admitted two counts of possessing an explosive substance, four counts of possessing a firearm without a certificate, two counts related to the possession of a prohibited firearm, possession of prohibited ammunition and possession of ammunition without a certificate.

Page had also been convicted of child abuse in the US in 2006.

BBC News