Bomb-maker jailed for three years

A former member of a far-right group has been jailed for three years for making explosives in his home, including a pipe bomb.

Darren Tinklin, 24, from Blackwood, Caerphilly county, had admitted two charges of making explosives and possessing a firearm. Tinklin had not wanted to injure and had not meant to create any risk, Newport Crown Court heard. He had kept right-wing paraphernalia, including items with Nazi SS symbols. He also had a t-shirt which said "100% fascist".

Cardiff Recorder Nicholas Cooke said he must send a "stern message to those who flirt with the manufacture of devices of this kind".

He said: "Ideas and political affiliations may come and go but there is a potential threat presented by someone who harbours an interest in explosives and extremist views. I cannot completely ignore that."

The court heard that Tinklin gave up his right-wing political interests in 2005, and although he had downloaded a bomb-making manual, he had never opened the files.

Mr Cooke referred to Tinklin's drug problem, saying it could lead to irresponsibility which coupled with an interest in explosives was a cause for concern. He added there was the risk of explosive materials falling into the wrong hands. However he gave him credit for his guilty plea but warned that people involved with explosives would face stern custodial sentences.

Tinklin was sentenced to three years, less the 119 days he has spent on remand.

BBC

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.

HOPE not hate

Catching up with the latest BNP news snippets

South Wales Evening Post accepts paid ad from BNP

Journalists at the South Wales Evening Post were incensed today when they found out that the paper had accepted a paid for election advert from the BNP. Protests were lodged with senior management and questions were asked about why it had been accepted. The journalists were told that as it was legal and paid for as part of the election it could not be stopped and that anyone who wanted to complain should take it up with the editor - who returns from a foreign trip today.

Everyone is incensed that we only found out about it only a few hours before publication - close to the end of a shift for many people and after much of the paper had been laid out - and had no effective means of challenging it at that stage. However, journalists are looking at ways of taking this issue up with management, including the idea of taking out an advert from journalists and staff on the paper on election day itself.

In the meantime, we would ask people in Swansea to assist us in showing Post management that accepting adverts from the BNP will not be welcomed by staff at the Post. In particular many journalists rightly feel that it undermines their journalistic credibility and reporting of these issues. It will certainly lower the standing of the paper in the eyes of many people in Swansea.

As well as the acceptance of the advert can give credibility to the BNP's claim that they are somehow legitimate by standing in elections like any other political party.

Could as many people as possible do the following to assist the journalists in the Post who are campaigning against this advert being placed.

Write a letter to the paper taking up the BNP and arguing against them. Although the paper is no longer taking letters about election issues, enough letters going in could force the paper to print them after the election. email: HaveYourSay@swwmedia.co.uk or to Have Your Say, Evening Post, Adelaide Street, Swansea SA1 1QT

Send letters of protest to the editor Spencer Feeney on spencer.feeney@swwmedia.co.uk or to the Post's address which is Evening Post, Adelaide Street, Swansea SA1 1QT - This can also be done directly by the website. Other senior editorial staff such as the news editor can be emailed via this site as well.

Send copies of any letters of protest to Mike Witchell at witchglen@btinternet.com

The switchboard number is (01792) 510000 and the Swansea newsdesk is (01792) 514606. Their website is www.thisissouthwales.co.uk

UAF

BNP hoists distress signal

BNP members are becoming increasingly dejected at the success of the Hope not Hate campaign. An article on the BNP website by Martin Wingfield, editor of the BNP's newspaper The Voice of Freedom, reveals that in Maryport where he and his wife Tina are standing for election, "Labour have successully [sic] worked all the nursing homes and sheltered housing in the wards for their postal votes and this has probably given them an unassailable lead".

He goes on to warn: "To all those working so hard in preparation for Thursday's big poll, please don't be unrealistically over-optimistic about your results".

Hard work is what it is all about. Where we have distributed our Hope not Hate leaflet, we have had a good reception from voters. Local Labour, Conservative and Liberal Democrat parties, and others, who work their wards properly, as Labour has done in Maryport, can defeat the BNP. Thursday – polling day – is nearly here but every hour of campaigning still counts.

The Wingfields demonstrated their pessimism to voters. Their literature stall placed in front of scaffolding in Maryport was adorned with a large Union Flag. It was upside-down. Flying the flag upside down is "lese-majesty", which means insulting the Crown, and is theoretically still a crime in the UK. It can however be flown upside-down as a distress signal.

Hope not hate

BNP man on false firearm charge

A British National Party candidate standing for election to Walsall Council has been charged with possessing an imitation firearm.

Dominic Bugler, 38, of Avon Crescent, Pelsall, appeared at the town's magistrates court on Monday. Mr Bugler is the BNP's candidate in the Pelsall ward for the local elections taking place on Thursday.

He has been remanded in custody to appear at Wolverhampton Crown Court on 8 May. More as (or when) we get it.

BBC