Former British army chief jailed for ‘terrorism’ offense | Crime News

The former member of the British army had “extreme right” views and ordered explosive components, police allege.

A British court has sentenced a former army chief to almost four years in prison for possessing weapons for “terrorist purposes”.

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

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

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

Frank Ferguson, head of the special crimes division of Britain’s Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), said Broadhurst was “clearly interested in violence and in developing weapons capable of causing incalculable harm to innocent people.”

Detective Chief Superintendent James Dunkerley, who leads “counter-terrorism” policing in the north-east region, said Broadhurst harbored a “far-right mindset” and was “proactively ordering components to make explosives”.

Broadhurst pleaded guilty to possession of a firearm and possession of an explosive in suspicious circumstances, but denied these were for “terrorist” purposes. ⁠A judge ruled, however, that Broadhurst’s offenses were linked to “terrorism.”

His conviction comes amid growing racial tensions and hate crimes in the UK, with marginalized communities increasingly targeted.

British police arrested 12 people in July in connection with a “far-right terrorist threat” targeting an Islamic gathering in eastern England.

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