Tag Archives: Terrorism related.

A classmate told teachers George Fowle could become ‘a school shooter’

A “racist” caught with explosive-making instructions after saying he wanted to bomb Camp America has been spared jail by a judge who told him: “Change your ways.”

George Fowle, who studied public services at North Kent College, was arrested at Heathrow Airport on June 18 last year on his way to the summer camp in the US.

The 20-year-old had been referred to the national anti-terror Prevent programme in March 2019 after a class member raised fears with teachers he could become a “school shooter”, the Old Bailey heard.

Fowle, from Snodland, appeared in court on Monday, where he pleaded guilty to two counts of collecting a record of use to a terrorist in January and February 2018.

The documents, entitled “Plastiqe.txt” and “How to make Nitroglycerin”, were said to contain “essentially correct and viable” instructions for making explosives.

Prosecutor Dan Pawson-Pounds said other material seized in the investigation showed Fowle had an “entrenched extreme right wing and racist mindset, as well as an interest in explosives, firearms and mass casualty incidents in public places such as schools”.

This included a video of the Christchurch mosque mass shootings, which left 51 people dead during Friday prayers on March 15 last year.

Investigators also found a Snapchat comment sent by Fowle on June 10 last year, which said: “I want to petrol bomb Camp America.”

But the court heard there was no evidence of any risk to Camp America with nothing to suggest Fowle had tried to use the explosive-making instructions or had any links with terrorist groups.

His barrister Gavin Holme said Fowle needed help to increase his maturity and that his guilty pleas showed his “remorse and responsibility”.

“This is a young man who the authorities can work with, and not against,” he said.

Sentencing Fowle, Judge Mark Dennis QC said: “This was shameful and very disturbing criminal behaviour.

“You have purported to embrace a vile mindset, which should have no place in a tolerant, democratic and peaceful society.”

The judge said a sentence of 20 months in a young offenders’ institution, suspended for two years, along with a 60-hour rehabilitation programme and 120 hours of unpaid work, would reduce the risk of Fowle re-engaging with the extreme right ideology.

He added: “I hope you listened to my words. You are being given a chance today. It’s not ‘mend your ways’, it’s ‘change your ways’.

“Wake up to how dreadful your views were and how dreadful your conduct was. You are part of a civilised society.”

Kent Live

Neo-Nazi had child abuse images

By virginiagolden

May 7, 2020

Uncategorized

Neo-Nazi Martyn Gilleard has been found guilty of making bombs for a far-right terrorist campaign, after having previously admitted downloading thousands of images of child sexual abuse.

Police initially searched Gilleard’s flat in Goole, East Yorkshire, in connection with child pornography offences.

But once inside the 31-year-old’s home, they discovered not just evidence of a paedophile, but the equipment of a potential terrorist as well.

Officers found machetes, swords, bullets, gunpowder and racist literature. Most sinister of all were four home-made nail bombs stashed under his bed.

He wrote of starting a “racial war” and murdering Muslims, but Martyn Gilleard boasted that he was no “barstool nationalist”.

‘Distressing images’

And a jury has decided he truly did want to put his white supremacist views into action.

At the opening of his trial at Leeds Crown Court, Gilleard admitted 10 counts of child pornography offences. Officers had discovered more than 39,000 indecent images of children on his computer.

After sentencing, Ch Insp Chris Kelk, of Humberside Police, said: “The images include some of the most disturbing my team and I have ever seen and by admitting his crimes it has prevented the images being seen by jury members.”

Ch Insp Kelk commended his team for their professionalism despite the “distressing nature” of the images.

Jurors considering the terror charges did not learn of this until they delivered their verdict.

‘Potentially lethal’

Gilleard, a forklift truck driver from Goole, East Yorkshire, admitted to police and the court that he had held racist views.

At the time of his arrest he was a paid-up member of the National Front, the White Nationalist Party and the British People’s Party – all opposed to multiculturalism.

His computer password was Martyn1488 – the 14, according to prosecutor Andrew Edis QC, being a reference to the far-right’s “14 words” slogan, “We must secure the existence of our race and the future for white children.”

The 88, Mr Edis added, represented the eighth letter of the alphabet – an abbreviation for “Heil Hitler”.

But Gilleard was not simply a passive crank, the court was told.

In a notebook recovered by police, Gilleard wrote that the “time has come to stop the talk and start to act”.

“Unless we the British right stop talking of racial war and take steps to make it happen, we will never get back that which has been stolen from us,” he added.

“I am so sick and tired of hearing nationalists talk of killing Muslims, of blowing up mosques, of fighting back, only to see these acts of resistance fail to appear.”

In another note, he wrote that he wanted to see “reds” – left-wing activists – attacked with “lightning strikes” and “home-made grenades”.

His comments were a chilling echo of far-right nail bomber David Copeland, jailed for life for murder after attacks targeting London’s gay community and ethnic minorities in 1999.

By the time police raided his flat, Mr Edis said, Gilleard’s preparations for this impending conflict had already been well under way.

Officers had discovered the four nail bombs under a bed along with “potentially lethal bladed weapons”, 34 bullets for a .22 calibre firearm, and printouts from the internet about committing acts of terrorism, Mr Edis told the court.

These had included instructions on how to make a bomb and how to poison someone, he added.

Gilleard had already pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to possessing 34 cartridges of ammunition without holding a firearms certificate.

Offensive weapon

But he denied that he had intended to hurt anyone with the nail bombs, arguing in court that he had only assembled them to give himself something to do.

When asked why he made the devices, he said: “I’d had a couple of cans. I was just sat around bored.”

The jury, however, decided that he had more sinister purposes in mind.

After the raid on Wednesday 31 October 2007, Gilleard fled to the home of his half-brother in Dundee, Tayside. Police caught up with him after a three-day manhunt.

Detectives who interviewed his work colleagues were told that he had expressed racist views to them. The police also recovered a high-visibility jacket belonging to Gilleard that had been daubed with a hand-drawn swastika.

Born on 15 July 1976 in York, Martyn Paul Gilleard had a complicated upbringing. At the time of his birth his mother had two older children by her ex-husband. He became the adopted son of his mother’s new partner after she remarried in 1978.

He left school at 16 with GCSEs in history, English language and literature, but failed to complete a course at Northallerton College. In 2000 he began working for Howarth Timber in Breighton, East Yorkshire, as a forklift truck driver.

In 2002 – the same year he was fined £25 for possession of an offensive weapon – his partner gave birth to a son, but the couple split in 2006.

A prison cell, not the racial conflict of which he dreamed, now awaits him.

BBC News

From 2008

Far-right extremist, 25, inspired by the Christchurch massacre admits having explosives and bomb-making manual

By virginiagolden

May 6, 2020

Uncategorized

Filip Golon Bednarczyk, 25, was arrested by counter-terror police last December
He pleaded guilty to having explosives and bomb-making instructions today
Bednarczyk allegedly searched the Internet for Nazis, Hitler, and Britain First

A far-Right extremist inspired by the Christchurch atrocity today pleaded guilty to having explosives and instructions on how to make bombs.

Filip Golon Bednarczyk, 25, of Luton, Bedfordshire, was arrested by detectives from the Metropolitan Police’s counter-terrorism unit on December 11 last year.

Police had suspected him of being a terrorist due to his interest in firearms and firearm attacks, his purchase of materials for an improvised explosive device and frequent Right-wing rhetoric.

A search of his bedsit led to the discovery of handwritten notes, electrical component parts and a 2kg bag of sulphur powder.

An analysis of his electronic devices revealed an interest in firearms, knives and killings as well as extreme right-wing views.

He had memes depicting support for the Christchurch attack in March 2019 in which 51 people were killed, as well as the attacker’s ‘manifesto’.

The defendant had also allegedly searched the internet for Nazis, Hitler, the Polish Defence League and Britain First.

During a virtual hearing at the Old Bailey today, Bednarczyk admitted possessing an explosive substance, namely sulphur powder, under suspicious circumstances between May and December last year.

He also pleaded guilty to seven charges of possessing a document likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism in relation to various titles about homemade explosives, including Semtex and black powder.

Prosecutor Dan Pawson-Pounds asked for sentencing to be put off to a later date.

He said the Crown had received a basis of plea from the defendant and a psychiatric report was being prepared.

Judge Anthony Leonard QC remanded the defendant into custody, telling him he would set a timetable to sentencing as soon as possible.
Daily Mail

‘Miss Hitler’ and three others guilty of National Action membership

By virginiagolden

March 20, 2020

Uncategorized

Alice Cutter and Mark Jones were found guilty after a trial at Birmingham Crown Court

A “Miss Hitler” contest entrant and her ex-partner have been convicted of being members of the banned far-right terrorist group National Action.

Alice Cutter, 23, and Mark Jones, 25, were found guilty of being members of the neo-Nazi organisation after a retrial at Birmingham Crown Court.

Garry Jack, 24, and 19-year-old Connor Scothern were also found guilty of being members of the group.

All four will be sentenced at a later date.

National Action, founded in 2013, was outlawed under anti-terror legislation three years later after it celebrated the murder of Labour MP Jo Cox.

Jones and Cutter were described as key members of National Action

During their trial Cutter, from Sowerby Bridge, near Halifax, was described by prosecutors as a “central spoke” among the organisation’s hardcore members, while Jones, also from Sowerby Bridge, was a “leader and strategist”.

Jurors heard how Cutter had entered the Miss Hitler beauty pageant under the name Miss Buchenwald – a reference to the Second World War death camp.

They were also told how she had exchanged hundreds of messages, many racist and anti-Semitic, and was still meeting other members months after the ban.

In an exchange with another National Action member a day after MP Mrs Cox was gunned down, Cutter wrote: “Rot in hell, bitch.”

She claimed not to have considered herself a member, even before the ban, despite attending meetings with group leaders and posing for a Nazi-style salute on the steps of Leeds Town Hall in 2016.

Cutter also attended a demo in York in May 2016.

Jones, a former member of the British National Party’s youth wing, told jurors of his “feelings of admiration” for Hitler, while the court heard he had a special wedding edition of Mein Kampf.

He also accepted that he posed for a photograph while holding a National Action flag and giving a Nazi-style salute in Buchenwald’s execution chamber on a trip to Germany in 2016.

Cutter and Jones embraced in the dock before being taken down to the cells.

Garry Jack, Connor Scothern and Daniel Ward were also convicted or pleaded guilty to being National Action members

Also convicted of the same offence were two other men; Garry Jack, 24, of Shard End, Birmingham, and 19-year-old Connor Scothern, from Nottingham.

Self-confessed Nazi Jack was described as a foot soldier in the group, having joined six months before the ban.

Scothern, who was a one-time practising Muslim, and an Antifa – anti-fascist activist – before eventually joining National Action, did not give evidence at trial.

But in messages he sent following the ban in August 2017, he talked of setting up “a clear and openly fascist youth movement”.

‘Threat to the public’

A fifth man, Daniel Ward, 28 from Bartley Green, Birmingham, pleaded guilty to being a member of National Action last year and was jailed for three years.

Det Ch Supt Kenny Bell, of the West Midlands Counter Terrorism Unit said: “Being convicted of membership of this extreme right terrorist group is the same as belonging to other terrorist groups such as Al-Qaeda or Daesh.

“They share a real toxic extreme ideology which is a danger to the public, the same ideology that we have seen manifested in the tragic attack in New Zealand, the murder of Jo Cox MP and the attack at Finsbury Park mosque in 2017.

“This group was amassing weapons and recipes for bomb-making. They communicated through secret channels to recruit others to their cause. Left unchecked they presented a real threat to the public.”

BBC News

Extremist walks free from court after posting “vile and hateful” social media messages

By virginiagolden

January 28, 2020

Uncategorized

A 30-year-old man who posted “vile and hateful” posts against Jews, Muslims, black and gay people on a Russian social media site has walked free from court.

Luke Crompton, of Brindle Street, Tyldesley, Wigan, pleaded guilty to encouraging terrorism recklessly by posting hundreds of messages over nine months in 2018 that were “dripping with hate and contempt” on VK – a site similar to Facebook.

Crompton, who was said to have a low IQ and possible autism, was handed a two-year community order at Manchester Crown Court after the judge heard that he did not harbour racist or homophobic views, and had been “influenced and exploited” online by “unscrupulous individuals”.

Alaric Bassano, prosecuting, told the court: “He posted extreme material – photographs, images and words – expressing hatred and contempt for, amongst others, homosexuals, Jews, Muslims and black people and those that consorted with them.”

He continued: “Many of the posts called for and encourage extreme activity against such people, such as the destruction of the Jewish and Islamic faiths, the torching of mosques and the murder of black people, Muslims and Jews.”

Mr Bassano said the VK profiles “prominently” displayed symbols of, and allegiance to, white supremacy.

The prosecutor added that Crompton appears to have harboured or sympathised with white supremacist views, with his Facebook “likes” featuring numerous causes of white supremacy, prolific viewing of material with racist and white supremacist title pages on his mobile phone and a draft text message containing pro-white nationalist and anti-Semitic sentiments.

But he told the court that all the experts who spoke to Crompton agreed that there was an “obsessional quality” to what he was doing and that his limitations, including social isolation and inability to form friendships and relationships, were likely to have played a part in his actions.

David Bentley QC, defending, described the posts as “hateful”, but said Crompton was “someone who is functioning effectively as a 10-year-old”.

He said the defendant was targeted on the Internet by people he believed had a genuine interest in him and was “adamant” he did not hold racist or homophobic views.

The barrister said: “He did not present as harbouring racist and offensive views and, in my opinion, would lack the intellect and sophistication to conceal them.”

He added: “He is plainly a vulnerable individual who was targeted online by unscrupulous individuals.”

Judge Patrick Field QC told Crompton: “What you did was to post vile and hateful material on a Russian social media site over a period of about nine months in 2018.

“The individual posts were deeply offensive, dripping with hate and contempt for Jews, Muslims and black people.

“They included praise for those who believed in white supremacy and they, in part, encouraged terrorism against Jews, Muslims and black people, encouraged people to kill them, to attack their religions and to burn their religious buildings.”

The judge added: “It is plain to me that you were influenced and exploited online by others who were considerably more sophisticated than you are.”

Sentencing Crompton to a two-year community order with a requirement of 30 rehabilitation days, Judge Field said: “I am advised, because of your vulnerability, you are liable to exploitation and radicalisation that might well occur in a prison environment and this would reduce the prospect of rehabilitation and increase the risk you pose to others.”

Crompton, who was wearing a dark-coloured coat and jeans, left the courtroom with his father and mother, who sobbed in the public gallery as the judge told her son he would not be jailed.

Lancashire Telegraph

Teenage neo-Nazi who planned terror attacks on synagogues as part of ‘race war’ jailed

By virginiagolden

January 7, 2020

Uncategorized

‘I am moments away from constructing bombs and weapons, how exciting,’ boy wrote in diary

A teenage neo-Nazi who planned terror attacks on synagogues and other targets in Durham has been jailed.

The 17-year-old, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was sentenced to six years and eight months in prison after writing a manifesto aiming to inspire other terrorists.

He detailed plans to firebomb synagogues and other buildings as part of what he believed was an upcoming “race war”.

Before being arrested, he wrote that his upcoming 12 weeks of study leave would be “showtime”.

“I think I am moments away from constructing bombs and weapons, how exciting,” a diary entry added.

The boy was convicted of six terror offences, including preparing acts of terrorism, disseminating terrorist publications and possessing material for terrorist purposes.

When he was arrested in March, police found a piece of paper in his pocket containing a message on code that said: “Killing is probably easier than your paranoid mind thinks. You’re just not used to it … good hunting Friday.”

During his arrest, the boy was carrying a second piece of paper containing a drawing of a fellow school pupil being beheaded.

Prosecutors said he had called for the student’s death, and had described how he wanted to violently attack a second pupil – who he thought was gay – as “judgement exacted on the lowest of the low, as deserved”.

Michelle Nelson QC told Manchester Crown Court: “Assaults upon fellow students, who had no place in the new world order, was in line with that; it was something he saw as part of generating race war and chaos.”

After reading Norway shooter Anders Breivik’s manifesto, which called for lone wolf terror attacks to fight the “genocide” of white people, the teenager started drafting his own.

The document was entitled: “Storm 88: A manual for practical sensible guerrilla warfare against the kike [offensive term for Jewish] system in Durham city area, sieg hiel.”

It listed proposed attack targets in Durham, including schools, public transport and council buildings.

Manifestos have also been written by far-right terrorists who carried out attacks including Halle, El Paso and Christchurch.

Writing on the Fascist Forge forum, the teenager claimed a race war was “inevitable”, and called himself an “accelerationist”.

Prosecutors said they had not identified a “particular act or acts” of terrorism that the boy was going to commit, but that he had been preparing for some kind of atrocity since October 2017.

He denied all offences, claiming he had adopted the terrorist persona for “shock value” and did not want to carry out attacks, but was convicted unanimously of all charges in November.

The teenager wrote that an extremist contact had warned him of an imminent police raid a month before his arrest, prompting him to start deleting files from his devices.

At his first appearance at Westminster Magistrates’ Court last April, prosecutor Kristel Pous said: “Between February 10 to 14, he was tipped off by the Fascist Forge network that the police raid was imminent, and he proceeded to delete all his files.”

Chief Magistrate Emma Arbuthnot said she was “very concerned” and asked police to investigate the claim.

A spokeswoman for Counter Terrorism Policing North East said no further evidence was found, adding: “Although there is evidence he did delete a number of files around 14 February, there’s no actual evidence to support the fact he was tipped off or implicating a third party. All the files deleted at that time were recovered.”

The teenager demonstrated a fascination with mass killers including Breivik, the Oklahoma bomber, Columbine shooters and Unabomber.

The court heard that the boy had been an “adherent of a right-wing ideology” since the age of 13, and that his views became more extreme as he immersed himself in fascist websites and forums.

By 2017, he was describing himself as a neo-Nazi and operated a since-deleted Twitter account.

His racist and homophobic tweets drew the attention of police but when he was interviewed in September that year, he claimed they were posted “for a laugh”.

The boy claimed he was not an extremist, but started another Twitter account and continued communicating with contacts, while accessing a “large quantity of extreme right-wing literature”.

The court heard he had steeped himself in antisemitic conspiracy theories and ranted about Jewish school governors, MPs and the press.

In August 2018, he described himself as a “radical national socialist” and follower of Adolf Hitler, saying he had read Mein Kampf and had a photo of the Nazi leader on his phone.

Prosecutors said the boy obtained and shared terror manuals on making explosives and firearms on the Ironmarch and Fascist Forge online forums, but also drew on jihadi propaganda.

He had searched for Isis execution videos and used al-Qaeda literature, and a jihadi guide on making deadly poisons, including ricin.

By November 2018, he had progressed to extreme occult neo-Nazism, which has gained traction in branches of the UK’s banned National Action terrorist group, and voiced support for satanism.

The teenager declared his support for the “siege” ideology, which was started by an American neo-Nazi and advocates the use of terror attacks to trigger a race war and chaos.

“Democracy is very much a dead system; political violence therefore, can only help us,” he wrote. “The white race is being silently genocided, the west is dying.”

Counterterror police have named right-wing extremism as the fastest-growing terror threat to the UK, although Islamists still make up the largest proportion of investigations.

The largest group of people referred to the Prevent counter-extremism programme are individuals with a “mixed, unstable or unclear ideology”, including obsessions with violence and massacres.

Of the 24 terror plots foiled by security services since March 2017, 16 were Islamist and eight were far right.

The Independent

Eaglescliffe weapons cache man Simon Flint jailed

By virginiagolden

December 16, 2019

Uncategorized

A man who amassed an arsenal of weapons including explosives, knives and rocket mortars has been jailed for 30 months.

Simon Flint was arrested after a row with youths near Bishop Auckland, County Durham, in June in which he pointed a loaded crossbow at them.

He had earlier admitted affray and possessing a prohibited weapon.

Teesside Crown Court heard the 42-year-old, of Meadowfield Drive, Eaglescliffe, had a fixation with weapons.

After his arrest, police searched a camper van in which he was living and found a “significant collection” of weapons, which also included swords, pepper spray and chemicals that could be used to make improvised explosive devices.

Jolyon Perks, prosecuting, told the court police searched his electronic devices and found videos of him blowing up an apple, a cucumber and a laptop computer.

He told police he thought the effect was “hilarious”, but he understood it may be illegal.

The court heard he told officers he had a fascination with “making things go bang”.

‘Unorthodox interests’

Flint had got into a row with some youths and when a dog walker went to be a peace-maker, the defendant pointed his crossbow at them, Mr Perks said.

Mr Perks said Flint was found to possess a number of stab vests, adding: “I think these acquisitions stem from a skewed sense of his need to defend himself.”

Mark Styles, defending, said: “His unorthodox interests have led to the situation he is now in.

“We have to concede he is certainly eccentric but he is not mentally ill.”

Judge Howard Crowson jailed him for two-and-a-half years, giving Flint credit for his guilty pleas.

Outside court, Gary Fotherill of the Crown Prosecution Service said: “Flint appears to have been motivated by a compulsion to master the technical process of constructing improvised explosive devices and to use these to blow up inanimate objects for his own entertainment.”

BBC News

Nazi jailed for hate campaign involving Taylor Swift and Sadiq Khan

By virginiagolden

December 14, 2019

Uncategorized

White supremacist Michael O’Neill, aged 61, made jibes at everyone from Taylor Swift to Sadiq Khan

Michael O’Neill made a racist claim about singer Taylor Swift and a black child

A Nazi has been jailed for a campaign of race hate on social media which included jibes at everyone from London mayor Sadiq Khan to pop superstar Taylor Swift.

White supremacist Michael O’Neill, aged 61, was arrested after an investigation by counter-terrorism police watching far-right groups.

He spent three years using Facebook and Twitter to spread racial abuse.

O’Neill was continually blocked by the social media giants for posting offensive material, Plymouth Crown Court heard.

But he created accounts under slightly different names so he could go on spouting filth.

He posted a picture of Tyler Swift with her arm around a black child and claimed she could catch Down’s Syndrome.

Jailing him for two years for his racist messages, Judge James Townsend said that he needed to pass a sentence to deter others.

He told the defendant the posts went on for a prolonged period of nearly three years and were available for all to see.

Police said after the case that the sentence should deter others from posting extreme views.

O’Neill, of Redhill Close, Ernesettle, pleaded not guilty to eight counts of distributing written material on social media likely to stir up racial hatred.

But he was found guilty after a four-day trial last month.

The jury saw more than 100 bizarre and offensive Facebook posts and tweets from between 2015 and 2018.

Simon Burns, for the Crown Prosecution Service, said among the more worrying posts was a suggestion that black Labour front bencher Diane Abbott “needed dispatching”.

O’Neill, with links to the National Front and Combat 18, also said Mr Khan should ‘f*** off and die’.

The barrister also reminded the judge that O’Neill said Pakistani Muslims should be “wiped out”.

O’Neill told a court that a tattoo of the number 1488 – linked to Hitler – was nothing to do with Nazis and was just a reminder of his PIN.

O’Neill said that he had the ink done years ago because he kept forgetting the number.

He also briefly sang the anthem “Flower of Scotland” from the witness stand during his trial.

Rupert Taylor, for O’Neill, said his client had “learnt his lesson”.

He added that the defendant no longer posted messages on social media or associated with far-right racists.

Mr Taylor said O’Neill drank heavily, was socially isolated and in poor health.

He added: “He has had the good sense to mend his ways. He is anxious to accept assistance and that is something that could be done in the community.

“It is really a plea for mercy for him to live quietly with restrictions.”

Mr Taylor said that his comments did not provoke actual violence or drive anyone to radical views.

Det Sgt Steve Foale from Counter Terrorism Police South West said after the case that the unit started examining O’Neill’s online activity early in 2018.

He added that when police searched his home in July that year, they found books, flags and music linked to the far-right.

DS Foale said: “His mindset combined with his aspiration for others to commit violence towards vulnerable members of our communities cannot be underestimated and could not go unprosecuted.

“O’Neill had at least eight Twitter and Facebook accounts attributed to him from which he continually posted a large amount of offensive extreme far-right material.

Chief Inspector Rob Mooney added: “The sentencing today of Michael O’Neill will send a positive message to the people of Plymouth that Devon and Cornwall Police and our partners will not accept any extremist ideology.

“Residents in our community must be protected from anyone that displays these abhorrent and bigoted behaviours.

“This court result shows that we take reports of this nature very seriously and urge our communities to carry on reporting such activity to police.

“If you have any information about suspicious activity or behaviour please contact Counter Terrorism Police in confidence. You can report a potential terrorist threat via our secure online form at gov.uk/ACT or call us on 0800 789 321.”

Plymouth Herald

Man admits explosive making equipment and weapons charges

By virginiagolden

December 9, 2019

Uncategorized

A MAN has pleaded guilty to a number of charges in connection with the possession of weapons and explosive making equipment.

Simon Flint had a huge collection of weapons, including more than 100 knives, improvised explosive crossbow bolts and a catalogue of components to build his own bombs, including potential pipe bombs.

The 42-year-old was due to stand trial this morning after being charged with seven offences following a police operation in Bishop Auckland on Friday, June 28.

However, this morning he pleaded guilty to three charges – affray and two charges of possession of explosive substances. He had already pleaded guilty to a number of offences at Durham Crown Court.

olyon Perks, prosecuting, said the defendant accepted that he had acquired the parts needed to construct an improvised explosive device.

He added that the defendant used improvised devices to blow up fruit and a laptop computer.

Mr Flint, who has an address at Meadowfield Drive, Eaglescliffe, but is understood to have lived in a campervan for a number of years, was charged with making threats to kill, possession of an explosive substance, two charges of possession of offensive weapons, possession of a weapon for the discharge of pepper spray, two charges of possession of a bladed article in public and a public order offence.

Among the items listed in the charges were three crossbows, a friction locking baton, lock knives and swords including one measuring 2ft long.

The precision engineer is also accused of possession of an explosive black powder, a weapon designed to discharge a noxious gas or liquid – namely pepper spray, and of using abusive, threatening or insulting words or behaviour to cause alarm.

Judge Howard Crowson adjourned the case for sentence and remanded Flint into custody.

He said: “We have admitted your offences and the next stage is sentencing but we will want to that right and it can be a little complicated, this piece of the law, so the lawyers are going to make sure they help me as much as they can and get this right.”