Soldier kept illegal weapons in bedroom

Home-built sniper rifle, pepper spray and ammo part of collection

A SOLDIER was caught with a sniper’s semi-automatic rifle and live ammunition in the bedroom of his home.

Robert Green, was fascinated by weaponry and used his skills as an armourer to build the rifle using an illegal component.

The 22-year-old Craftsman with the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (REME), which maintains Army equipment, was based at Catterick Garrison.

Jonathan Dunne, prosecuting at Leicester Crown Court, said a can of prohibited pepper spray was found in the boot of Green’s Land Rover at his barracks, which led to a search at his family home in Hinckley.

Mr Dunne said: “In a gun safe in his bedroom was a semi-automatic rifle.

“Under his bed and around his bedroom, in various places, were found ammunition and three other pepper sprays.”

The gun was a semi-automatic sniper’s rifle of the type used by the Army since 2010 – although it was accepted none of the components of Green’s rifle were from the military.

Green claimed he got the top part of the rifle, an upper receiver, from someone he would not name, who had a shared interest in weapons.

The defendant built the remainder of the firearm using parts sourced from the internet.

Green admitted possessing a prohibited weapon, the semiautomatic rifle, a .308 calibre bolt assembly rifle component and four cans of pepper spray as well as 38 rounds of .308 Winchester ammunition and 117 rounds of 9mm Luger ammunition, in June.

The defendant claimed none of the components belonged to the Army.

Green told the judge he had his “dream job” in the Army and was “fascinated” by armoury.

He built the rifle because he was interested in the engineering and not to use for any unlawful purpose

He said he was “stupidly thinking I wouldn’t get caught” and did not appreciate it carried a minimum five-year prison sentence.

Green said: “My job was firearms. Building the rifle was like a mechanic would build a car.”

The defendant claimed he was given some ammunition by a friend and got some from an organised shoot.

He said he acquired the pepper spray when on exercise in Germany and brought them back in his kit bag, unaware they were illegal in the UK.

Judge Martin Hurst said: “None of the equipment was used, but your possession put the public at risk of serious harm.

“You kept a collection of alcohol next to weapons in your bedroom.

“These items (the ammunition) weren’t secure and other people knew about their presence.”

“You well knew the law and shouldn’t have had the items and you accept you knew that.

“There was a determined and calculated effort by you to have available a lethal assault rifle.”

He said had the opportunity arisen, he believed the defendant would have tried firing the rifle and had the bullets to do so.

The judge did not accept the defendant’s explanation he was given the .308 ammunition or that he acquired the 9mm bullets by carrying them during an organised shoot and forgetting to hand in unused rounds.

The judge said: “You deliberately stole it from the Army.”

Jonathan Eley, mitigating, said:

“It’s a tragic case.

“There’s nothing wrong with young men having a fascination with firearms, that’s what the Army is for.

“Collecting military memorabilia is big business. Sadly, Robert Green took it one step further.

“He saw it (building the rifle) as a challenge to his skills, rather like an academic exercise.

“He knows he’s destroyed his Army career. He was terribly misguided and naive. There was never an ulterior motive.

“He hadn’t used the weapon, he hadn’t fired it and it wasn’t shown in public.

“Of every other aspect of his life, there’s no criticism and references speak highly of his loyalty, friendship and kindness.

“The stigma of these convictions will make employment on his release very difficult.”

Character witness, Warrant Officer, Paul Smith, of the Royal Lancers, told the court Green was “a trusted member of staff – he had an exemplary attitude towards work.”

He said the offences meant Green would be dismissed from the Army.

Green was jailed for a total of six years.