Survivalist binman jailed for stockpiling explosives at home

A BINMAN who was preparing for a major global disaster by stockpiling weapons at his home has been jailed for three years and four months.

Reeco Fernandez, 29, stashed 250 explosive devices and military supplies in his family home as he believed a “pe- riod of war and famine was coming”.

The supplies were stored in a cupboard under the stairs, a garden shed, and his bedroom at his parents’ terraced home in Bedminster, Bristol.

His cache, including modified fireworks, ball bearings and chemicals to make further explosives, was discovered after emergency services were called to the property on Sept 8 last year.

Neighbours dialled 999 after hearing bangs, a loud boom and seeing smoke billowing from the house – caused after Fernandez unwittingly blew himself up in his bedroom.

A critical incident was declared after firefighters found the devices, and 80 neighbours were evacuated for five days while experts, including bomb disposal teams, investigated.

Avon and Somerset Police found Fernandez had been buying chemicals online for several years, with footage from his mobile phone detailing experiments he carried out on explosives in woods close to his home.

Mr Justice Dingemans said Fernandez was not “associated with a terrorist organisation” but had put himself, his family and his neighbours at risk of “real harm”.

The judge ruled that Fernandez did not pass the threshold for dangerousness, which would have meant he would be jailed indefinitely.

Prosecuting, Rachel Drake said the explosion appeared to have been caused on a metal cabinet in which Fernandez kept some of his explosives.

Experts found 141 IEDS modified from shotgun cartridges, 96 IEDS from modified fireworks, 10 grenades, and four IEDS from other cartridges.

There were 10 containers of material and 21 suspected chemical mixtures, fireworks and pyrotechnics. Other material included chemicals, paper tubes, empty grenades, ball bearings, dismantled fireworks, cooking trays, scales, and a pestle and mortar with chemical residue in it.

Representing Fernandez, Mary Cowe said a psychiatrist found he had “eccentric beliefs about what the future holds”.

“He talks about being told in 2013 that a period of war and famine was coming and he could do something about it,” she said.