BNP activist on firearms charges

A British National Party (BNP) activist has appeared in court on firearms charges.

Police officers were posted outside the magistrates courts building in Bury St Edmunds on Friday when 50-year-old David Lucas made a brief appearance to face two charges of possession of a signal launcher gun without a certificate and possession of ammunition for a firearm without a certificate.

Lucas, of South Road, Lakenheath, did not enter pleas and the case was adjourned until December 17 when he is due to be committed for trial at Ipswich Crown Court.

A former member of Lakenheath Parish Council, he stepped down from his role in July. He also stood unsuccessfully as a candidate for the BNP in last year’s European elections. Lucas was released on conditional bail until the next hearing and his passport must remain surrendered.

He was originally arrested in August when tactical firearms officers were involved in a search of a caravan in Blackdyke Road, Hockwold. Speaking at the time a police spokeswoman said: “Officers from the tactical firearms unit were involved but for their skills in gaining entry to properties and searching rather than firearms deployment.”

Newmarket Journal

BNP activist given suspended prison sentence in ammo case

A leading British National Party activist who admitted unlawfully possessing ammunition and gunpowder has escaped an immediate prison sentence.

Police officers who went to a static caravan at Black Dyke Farm near Lakenheath in April last year, where David Lucas had been staying, found a plastic tub containing a small amount of gunpowder and 2,500 rounds of ammunition that he wasn’t authorised to possess, Ipswich Crown Court heard. Lucas, 49, of South Road, Lakenheath, admitted possessing gunpowder without an explosives licence, two offences of possessing prohibited ammunition and one offence of possessing ammunition without a firearm certificate.

Sentencing Lucas, Judge David Goodin said the offences crossed the custody threshold but agreed to pass a 12-month sentence suspended for 12 months after coming to the conclusion that Lucas was eccentric rather than a danger to the public. He ordered Lucas to pay £250 towards prosecution costs and ordered him to reside for 13 weeks at his mother’s house. He told Lucas that in the wrong hands the ammunition was potentially dangerous and warned him to take more care in the future.

Jonathan Davies for Lucas said his client’s attitude had been “negligent and indifferent” rather than a flagrant disregard for the law. He said the small amount of gunpowder found in the caravan was used to set off traps on the farm and he had collected the ammunition over a number of years and planned to display some of the cartridges in picture frames in hunting and fishing lodges.

Mr Davies said Lucas had led a law-abiding life and had been made bankrupt after losing his transport business because of the foot and mouth outbreak in the county in 2001. He said Lucas helped local people by being a parish councillor and was well-respected locally.

EADT24

Kirklees British National Party member admits to terrorism charges

The Bomb Disposal Team move into Terry Gavan's house

A member of the British National Party is facing a long spell in prison after admitting to keeping an arsenal of homemade weapons at his home.

Terence Gavan, 38, made and stockpiled 54 nail and ball-bearing bombs between May 1999 and May this year. He also manufactured shotguns, pen guns and pistols at his home in Batley, West Yorkshire. Gavan was also found in possession of ammunition, a manual on boobytraps, an improvised munitions handbook and a copy of the Anarchists’ Cookbook.

He admitted 22 charges, including six under the Terrorism Act, when he appeared at Woolwich Crown Court on 26 November 2009.

The Judge, Mr Justice Calvert-Smith QC, adjourned sentence until 15 January and remanded Gavan in custody.

Gavan was arrested at his home in Colbeck Terrace on 21 May following a West Yorkshire police operation. He admitted four counts of making explosives and four counts of possessing explosives over a ten-year period. They consisted of four improvised explosive devices (IEDs) incorporating ball-bearings, 21 IEDs with nails, two “victim-operated” IEDs with nails and a further 28 explosives classified as IEDs.

He also pleaded guilty three counts of manufacturing prohibited weapons, four counts of possession of prohibited weapons and one count of possession of ammunition without a certificate. In all, police found nine homemade or converted firearms at the property.

These were a .22 ME9 para air-cartridge pistol, an 8mm blank-cartridge, pistol, a home-made .22 rimfire single shotgun, two homemade .22 rimfire pen gun, a .22 single shot pistol. There were also two homemade pistols and one homemade shotgun, fitted with silencers or sound moderators.

Between 31 December 2005 and 22 February this year Gavan reactivated a British Service No 4 Mark I rifle. Also found in his home were two Brocock revolver gas guns. Gavan further admitted six charges of possession of documents containing information likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism, under section 58 of the Terrorism Act 2000.

These were books with the titles Boobytraps, Improvised Weapons Manual and Guerilla Warfare and Special Forces Operations 1961, and two electronic PDF files including the Anarchists’ Cookbook volume 4.

No doubt the BNP will say Gavan was not and never has been a BNP member. However Searchlight has been monitoring this case for some time and we can reveal that Gavan not only was a BNP member, he also held gold membership. Just to help the BNP administration team find details of their latest villain, we are reliably informed Terry Gavan has the membership number 130757.

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