Croydon (Parliament Politics Magazine) – Paul Martin, 60-years-old, of Suffolk Road, Croydon, has admitted possessing a stun gun but denied two other charges during a court appearance this week.
A court has heard that throughout the pandemic, Covid denier gathered an arsenal of weapons, including arrows, crossbows, and swords, and he advocated for a bloody rebellion.
Paul Martin, 60, is on trial at the 5 Suffolk Rd on charges of possessing weapons “for the purposes of terrorism” and inciting terrorism on the Telegram group The Resistance UK.
Between December 2020 and September 2021, Martin allegedly advocated using explosives, “serious violence,” and “disruption” in 16,000 posts to terrify the people or influence the UK government.
Opening his trial on Monday, prosecutor Julia Faure Walker said:
“He was vehemently against the measures brought in by the then-government in response to the pandemic, including the lockdown and vaccine rollout.
He believed the pandemic was fake and the vaccine was dangerous and designed to be so and the people needed to ‘wake up’ to what he believed.
It was this ideological cause that drove the messages encouraging violence and other action.”
According to Ms. Faure Walker, the defendant had made frequent references to “serious violence, criminal damage, and disruption of electrical communication systems” rather than limiting himself to peaceful protest.
The jury was informed that Martin also mentioned his firearms in the Telegram communications, urging others to obtain and use them in assaults.
The court heard that when police raided his residence in September 2021, they discovered two crossbows, arrows, and swords.
According to the court, the defendant joined the Telegram group The Resistance UK in December 2020, and his posts accounted for almost 4% of the messages sent to the organization’s 8,000 members.
Ms Faure Walker said:
“It follows, the posts he was making reached a very large audience.”
As the name suggested, at least some of the members resisted the lockdown and other measures imposed during the Covid-19 pandemic, jurors were told.
Given its size, Ms Faure Walker said there was no way Martin could have known all the group members, or how susceptible they might be to his influence.
Martin, who lives on Suffolk Road in Croydon, has acknowledged owning a stun gun but refuted the other two accusations.
The trial at Old Bailey is still ongoing.
Which legal penalties could apply if he is convicted of encouraging terrorism?
Promoting terrorism is a crime under section 1 of the Terrorism Act 2006: the maximum penalty for a conviction on indictment (trial in a crown court) is 15 years imprisonment, a fine, or both.
This crime includes either directly or indirectly encouraging or inducing a person to commit, prepare, or instigate acts of terrorism.
The Counter Terrorism and Sentencing Act 2021 has created a “serious terrorism sentence” where the minimum time in jail is 14 years for serious cases and the maximum time on license is 25 years and applies to the most dangerous offenders.
Serious terror offenders can no longer receive early release; they must serve the entire 14 years.
