Terror accused 'fell in Covid-denier rabbit hole'

Paul Martin, pictured outside court, believed the pandemic was fake

A Covid-denier accused of encouraging terrorism "fell down a rabbit hole" and lost track of time during the pandemic, a court has heard.

Paul Martin, 60, who is also on trial at the Old Bailey on charges of collecting weapons for the purposes of terrorism, told the court that he owned two crossbows "purely for sport" and that two pistols police found in his flat were the kind "commonly used in fairgrounds".

Over 16,000 posts on a Telegram group, Mr Martin allegedly called for the use of explosives, serious violence and disruption to influence the government or intimidate the public.

Mr Martin, from Croydon, south London, has admitted having a stun gun and denied all other charges.

The group, named The Resistance UK, discussed the Covid-19 virus, and protests against the restrictions brought in by governments during the pandemic.

Mr Martin posted thousands of messages on the group, and in some of them he claimed the Covid vaccines were "a poison designed to kill you off over a short period", the court heard.

'Scary thoughts'

In December 2020 he told fellow users that the "second jab" would be triggered by the turning on of 5G phone signal masts which he described as "the kill shot".

Questioned by his lawyer Dominic Thomas, Mr Martin described to the court what he had been thinking at that time.

"Originally, I suppose what I was thinking was that some would go straight away, then over a few years, they'd get 'turbo cancer'," Mr Martin said.

"It's a new expression I suppose. Normal cancer you get two or three years to live, but recently cancer has been appearing where you just get a few weeks to live."

Asked by Judge Richard Marks about his views on the vaccine in 2020, Mr Martin said he had feared losing the ability to consent to having the jabs.

He said he had believed the jabs were harmful, "perhaps fatally harmful in the long term".

"I thought we would lose our privilege of consent, that we'd be forced to have it," Mr Martin told the court.

"That gave me scary thoughts. What I saw on the news, drag them out of the houses, jab them. All this."

"You thought you'd be physically manhandled out of your house?" asked Judge Marks.

"I thought it was a possibility," Mr Martin replied.

The jury were shown photographs of his flat at the time of his arrest in 2021.

At the time police searched his house Mr Martin said he had been sleeping on his sofa as he had collected so many boxes and belongings there was no room to sleep in his bedroom.

He told the court that he had been a "hoarder" of items.

Mr Martin said that he had been drinking significantly during the lockdowns.

"I suppose I would drink a while bottle of rum at one sitting, but not every day, my kidneys wouldn't be able to handle that," he told the court.

He added: "I wouldn't know if it was Monday or Sunday."

The trial continues.