Neo-Nazi paedophile admits having gunpowder manual

A neo-Nazi paedophile who was jailed 17 years ago for a nail bomb plot is due to be sentenced again after he admitted having a gunpowder manual.

Martyn Gilleard, 48, of Town Street in Armley, Leeds, pleaded guilty to a single count of collection of material likely to be of use to a terrorist at the Old Bailey on Friday.

He was sentenced to 12 years in 2008 for terrorism offences and having indecent images of children, before being released in 2023.

The court heard that Gilleard had collected information on or before 28 May about the manufacture of explosive black powder, known as gunpowder.

Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb set a date of 22 August for his sentencing at Leeds Crown Court and he was remanded back into custody.

Gilleard, a former forklift truck driver who also uses the name Martyn Stone, was previously found guilty of engaging in conduct in preparation of terrorist acts and collecting information for terrorist purposes, having admitted having indecent images.

When police searched his flat in Goole, East Yorkshire, in October 2007 they found four nail bombs, bladed weapons, bullets, documents about terrorism and extreme right-wing literature.

More explosive material, camouflage clothing, balaclavas, a bomb-making manual and outdoor survival guides were also found when a further search was carried out by detectives and forensic teams from the Counter Terrorism Unit (CTU) in Leeds.

Humberside Police also discovered about 39,000 indecent images of children, including film and photographs.

His high-visibility work jacket had been modified with a hand-drawn swastika and lettering related to far-right group Combat 18.

His colleagues went on to tell police that he had expressed racist views.

Detectives launched a manhunt when the father of one failed to return home after the original search of his flat.

He was found three days later 300 miles away in Dundee, Tayside.

Gilleard had been a member of a number of far-right groups, including the National Front, the British People's Party and the White Nationalist Party, and said in his police interviews that he sympathised with white supremacists and accepted he was racist.

He admitted 10 specimen counts of possessing indecent images of children and also pleaded guilty to possessing 34 cartridges of ammunition without holding a firearms certificate.

Gilleard said during his trial that he was not going to use the nail bombs for serious violence and said he made them when he became bored after drinking "a couple of cans".

The prosecution said he was intending to use them as weapons.

Listen to highlights from West Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North.