BRITAIN: A man convicted in England of racist crimes was found to have a hidden cache of weapons and explosives which could have been used to wage a "campaign of terror".
Det Supt Steve Morrison from Thames Valley Police said clues of a possible racist campaign were found at the home in rural Oxfordshire of David Tovey (37). They included maps of an area around a mosque near London and lists of car number plates and addresses of black and Asian people.
Tovey was found guilty yesterday at Oxford Crown Court of two counts of writing racist graffiti. He had already pleaded guilty to making explosive devices and to having banned guns and ammunition. He will sentenced at the end of the month.
The investigation into Tovey's anti-white graffiti, which police said he wrote to stir up racial tension, led to the discovery of the major arms cache at his house.
Police said a number of firearms including a sawn-off double-barrelled shot-gun, a pump-action shot gun and a machine gun were found.
Pipe bombs and a stick of military plastic explosive were also uncovered.There were also thousands of rounds of ammunition, camouflage clothing and body armour. Perhaps even more worryingly there was plastic explosive of the type used by the British army, home-made explosive similar to napalm and bomb-making equipment.
When police arrived at Tovey's home, they hoped to find evidence to prove he was behind the graffiti campaign, but as they poked around his untidy rooms, an officer came upon a cupboard with a false bottom in which a submachine gun, dating from the second World War but in working order, was stashed.
When they searched further, officers were shocked to find a huge arsenal of weapons and explosives. They quickly realised they were dealing not just with a racist vandal but a much more dangerous character.
They now believe Tovey is a right-wing extremist who, angered at asylum policies, was on the point of launching a one-man race war. (Reuters, Guardian service)