Ex-UK army chef jailed for ‘terror’-related offence

The former British Army member harboured ‘extreme right-wing’ views and was ordering explosives components, say police.

The case comes against a backdrop of rising racial tensions and hate crimes in the United Kingdom [File: Finnbarr Webster/Getty Images]

A British court has handed a former army chef a nearly four-year jail term for possessing weapons for “terrorist purposes”.

Mark Broadhurst, 28, was given the sentence on Wednesday at Sheffield Crown Court in England, two years after police uncovered online messages in which he expressed racist views and an intention to sell homemade firearms to right-wing groups.

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Police found a stockpile of weapons at Broadhurst’s home address when they took him into custody in September 2024, including knives and crossbows, black powder, ammunition, air pistols and what officials described as “an improvised homemade cannon”.

The former British Army member was also found to be part of an online chat group with three other men who last year were jailed for planning to carry out a “terrorist” attack at mosques or synagogues as part of what they believed to be a coming “race war”.

Frank Ferguson, head of the special crime division of the UK’s public prosecution agency, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), said Broadhurst was “clearly interested in violence and developing weapons that had the ability to cause untold harm to innocent people”.

Detective Chief Superintendent James Dunkerley, who heads “counterterror” policing in the northeastern region, said Broadhurst was found to be harbouring an “extreme right-wing mindset” and was “proactively ordering components to make explosives”.

Broadhurst pleaded guilty to firearm possession and possessing an explosive under suspicious circumstances, but denied they were for “terrorism” purposes. ⁠A judge, however, ruled that Broadhurst’s offences were connected to “terrorism”.

His conviction comes against a backdrop of rising racial tensions and hate crimes in the UK, with marginalised communities increasingly targeted.

British police in July arrested 12 people in connection with an “extreme right-wing terrorism threat” targeting an Islamic gathering in eastern England.

Six months earlier, UK prosecutors said they were handling the highest number of hate crime cases referred by police in its history.

警方称，这名前英国陆军成员持有“极右翼”观点，并订购爆炸物部件。

此案的背景是英国种族关系日益紧张和仇恨犯罪事件不断增加。[图片：Finnbarr Webster/Getty Images]

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2024 年 9 月，警方在布罗德赫斯特的住所将其拘留时，发现了大量武器，包括刀具、弩、黑火药、弹药、气枪以及官员们所说的“自制简易大炮”。

这位前英国陆军成员还被发现与另外三名男子在一个网上聊天群中，这三人去年因计划在清真寺或犹太教堂实施“恐怖袭击”而被判入狱，他们认为这是即将到来的“种族战争”的一部分。

英国皇家检控署（CPS）特别犯罪部门负责人弗兰克·弗格森表示，布罗德赫斯特“显然对暴力感兴趣，并致力于研发能够对无辜民众造成无法估量伤害的武器”。

负责东北地区“反恐”警务工作的警司詹姆斯·邓克利表示，布罗德赫斯特被发现怀有“极端右翼思想”，并且“主动订购制造爆炸物的部件”。

布罗德赫斯特承认非法持有枪支和在可疑情况下持有爆炸物，但他否认这些行为是出于“恐怖主义”目的。然而，法官裁定布罗德赫斯特的罪行与“恐怖主义”有关。

他的定罪正值英国种族关系日益紧张和仇恨犯罪频发之际，边缘化群体日益成为攻击目标。

英国警方7月份逮捕了12人，他们涉嫌参与针对英格兰东部一场伊斯兰集会的“极端右翼恐怖主义威胁”。

六个月前，英国检察官表示，他们正在处理英国历史上由警方移交的仇恨犯罪案件数量最多的案件。