‘Colonel’ set up fake army to take on Isis

A self-styled “colonel” - who once started a fake army to defend Kent from Isis - is back behind bars after attacking a prison officer and a policeman.

Geoffrey Mayne set up his imaginary Kent War Forces in 2015 claiming he had a “Godgiven right to defend Kent and bear arms”.

A year later he was jailed after going into a Boots chemist to collect his methadone script and leaving behind a note, detailing how to make ammunition.

Now a jury at Maidstone Crown Court has taken just 22 minutes to convict the 29-yearold of two assaults on emergency workers after he refused to turn up for his trial.

In his absence, prosecutor Ben Irwin told how Mayne repeatedly beat prison officer Roberto Battista in January 2019 and then launched an attack on PC Alexander McCallum in Ashford when he went to arrest him in November 2020.

Prison officer Battista told the jury how he was at HMP Rochester in 2019 when Mayne launched an “unprovoked and sustained attack”on him, punching him in the face.

Then in November the following year police were called to the Ashford area to arrest Mayne, but as PC McCallum moved forward he had to duck to avoid a punch - and other officers then had to use Tasers.

Mr Irwin said that despite “numerous” invites to participate in court proceedings, Mayne had refused to leave his cell - or instruct a barrister to defend him.

Now Judge Catherine Moore has said that Mayne will be sent a letter outlining the jury’s decisions and ask him if he plans to attend the sentencing hearing in a couple of weeks.

In 2015 armed officers raided his home in Ashford, discovering a semi-automatic rifle and 57 rounds of expanding ammunition.

They also found documents headed Kent War Forces and an ID card in his name styling himself as a Colonel.

The court heard the documents mentioned ‘Muslims’ and spoke of a paramilitary force and called members ‘warriors’.

The trial judge commented at the time: “If there is the slightest evidence such an organisation existed and was subscribed to by a number of people it would be altogether more serious

“I bear in mind his professed intentions and ideologies.

“It may be part of his fantasy world.”

Mayne, of New Rectory Lane, Kingsnorth, admitted possessing a firearm without a certificate, a detachable sound moderator, a cartridge and possessing expanding bullets.

Mayne was jailed for five years for the offences with the judge at the time saying: “Kent War Forces is probably a creation of your own - part fantasy and part ambition.

“It becomes worrying and potentially dangerous. All of it is unsettling.

“The ambition is to engage in conflict with organisations such as Isis.”

Geoffrey Mayne has been jailed again