Ex-UK army chef jailed for nearly four years over homemade gun, explosives

A British army chef who ​was motivated by an extreme right-wing ideology ​was jailed for nearly four ‌years on ​Wednesday after he was arrested with a homemade gun and explosives. Mark Broadhurst, 28, was arrested at his barracks ‌in September 2024 after police discovered online messages espousing racist views, his desire to form a militia and his intention to create homemade firearms and sell them to right-wing groups.

He ‌was in a Telegram group with three other men who last year were ‌jailed for a combined total of 29 years for planning to carry out a terrorist attack at mosques or synagogues as part of what they believed to be a coming "race war". When Broadhurst ⁠was ​arrested, police found knives ⁠and crossbows, black powder, 9mm ammunition and air pistols at his home address, as well as what ⁠police described as "an improvised homemade cannon".

Broadhurst pleaded guilty to possession of a firearm and making or ​possessing an explosive under suspicious circumstances, though he denied he possessed them for ⁠the purposes of terrorism. But a judge ruled that Broadhurst's offences were connected to terrorism and he was sentenced ⁠at ​Sheffield Crown Court to three years and 10 months in prison.

"Mark Broadhurst was clearly interested in violence and developing weapons that had the ability to ⁠cause untold harm to innocent people," Frank Ferguson, head of the Crown Prosecution Service's Special Crime ⁠and Counter Terrorism ⁠Division, said. "He was immersed in extremist material and maintained close contact with three now-convicted terrorists inspired by SS tactics and supremacist ‌ideology over ‌a prolonged period."