Neo-Nazi paedophile who planned race war jailed over gunpowder plot

A neo-Nazi paedophile who was caged for 16 years for planning to launch a race war has been jailed again after police found a deadly recipe to make gunpowder stashed in his home. Self-confessed racist Martyn Gilleard, 49, admitted a single count of collection of material likely to be of use to a terrorist earlier this year in relation to the manufacture of explosive black powder - or gunpowder. In 2008 he was sentenced to 12 years in prison for terror offences and a further four years for possessing 39,000 indecent images including child pornography.

Goole, originally from Goole, East Yorks, moved to a multi-cultural area of Leeds following his release in 2023. But Gilleard, who is said to have "idolised" Adolf Hitler and stored nail bombs under the bed in which his then-five-year-old son slept, remained radicalised and is now back behind bars.

At Leeds Crown Court today, Judge Tom Bayliss KC sentenced him to three years and nine months in prison with an extended four years on licence.

Judge Bayliss said Gilleard "plainly had terrorism connections and motivations".

He added: "This was deliberate and calculated offending."

The court heard how the fresh offences came to light on May 28 when police officers attended his address based on intelligence they had gathered and found a notebook which contained instructions, handwritten notes and texts, under a heading 'black powder'.

"Those notes would have made gunpowder had you the wherewithal to do so," the judge added.

Talking about the contents of a pre-sentence report which detailed Gilleard's attitude, the judge said: "What's in it, frankly, makes me fear for the future."

Detective Chief Superintendent James Dunkerley the Head of Counter Terrorism Policing North East, said: "Officers were concerned to discover a handwritten recipe for black powder during a search at Gilleard's home in May; a recipe later verified by experts as potentially viable.

"Possessing information about the manufacture of explosives will always raise serious questions. Gilleard has chosen not to explain or defend the presence of the recipe in his home, instead pleading guilty to possessing information useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism."

The former forklift truck driver, who also uses the name Martyn Stone, was previously described as "extremely dangerous" and someone with a "deep-seated hatred of persons who are black, Asian and Jewish."

The white supremacist planned a race war "killing Muslims, blowing up mosques and fighting back".

When they were searching his flat in Goole, for child pornography in 2007, police found the nail bombs, bladed weapons, bullets, documents about terrorism and extreme right-wing literature.

Gilleard also had a collection of Nazi memorabilia and said Nazism appealed to him because of the way he claimed the party had "rebuilt" Germany. He had also adapted his high-visibility work jacket with a hand-drawn swastika and lettering related to far-right group Combat 18.

He had been a member of a number of far-right groups, including the National Front, the British People's Party and the White Nationalist Party and accepted he was racist, the court heard, but said he had become "less racist" recently.

Officers also found DIY bomb manuals, a guide on making a sub-machine gun and internet instructions on carrying out assassinations by poison.

Gilleard was originally released from prison six years into his original sentence but recalled soon after for breaking the terms of his parole.

Police discovered the gunpowder guide in a notebook on his ironing board when searching the property.

Judge Bayliss said Gilleard's previous offending was a "serious aggravating feature" and that the neo-Nazi had demonstrated a "commitment, knowledge and intent" to create weapons.

Gilleard, who appeared from HMP Leeds via a video-link for his sentencing, was previous described as "extremely dangerous" by counter-terrorism police.

His 2008 trial heard how detectives launched a manhunt when the father of one failed to return home after the original search of his flat.

He was found three days later 300 miles away in Dundee, Tayside.

Det Con Supt John Parkinson said at the time: "He considers himself to be a British nationalist. He is in fact a terrorist, a man prepared to use violence to divide, or perhaps even attack, our communities.

"Not only has he openly expressed extreme far-Right views and a desire to act on them, he also had the capability to do so.

"Gilleard had access to weapons and, more frighteningly, explosives. He had even gone as far as to create small hand-held bombs.

"We can only assume that his intention was to use them and we are thankful we were able to intervene before he had an opportunity to do so."