Leamington Spa: Ben Styles built sub-machine gun 'for religious war'

Birmingham Crown Court heard police found the lower and top parts of a homemade sub-machine gun in a search in February 2021

A man started building a homemade sub-machine gun in his garage to fight a religious war, a court has heard.

A police search of Ben Styles' home in Leamington Spa, Warwickshire, found the lower and top parts of a homemade gun, Birmingham Crown Court was told.

Officers also found manuals on how to convert blank bullets into live ammunition and a Nazi fitness manual, prosecutors added.

Mr Styles, of Plymouth Place, denies preparing an act of terrorism.

The jury heard the 24-year-old, who has a B-Tec in engineering from Warwickshire College, posted in an online anti-Jewish group describing the holocaust to friends as the "holohoax".

He then added: "I hope the holocaust is real next time."

Prosecutors allege he also told his friend he was "just getting as strong as possible for the war" and sent a picture of his phone lock screen which had images of swastikas on it.

'Extreme right-wing ideology'

Opening the case on Friday, prosecutor Matthew Brook said the search of Mr Styles' garage on 15 February 2021 also found shop-bought blanks and another book titled "The SS family yearly - celebrations of the SS family".

"In this case, the evidence will prove that the defendant, Ben Styles, fully believed in extreme right-wing ideology," he added.

Prosecutors allege the defendant collected instruction manuals on how to build guns and produce live ammunition on an encrypted USB drive and was "well on his way to making a homemade sub-machine gun".

Mr Brooks said Mr Styles also wrote a manifesto in which he talked about "working to fulfil my mission" and set out his views about "being in a religious war against the Jews and other targets of extreme right-wing terrorists".

The trial continues.