Robert Templeton jailed over 'Aladdin's cave' of weapons

Ballymena man Robert Templeton, 36, has been jailed for a year

A man who admitted having an "Aladdin's cave" of weapons and bomb components in his home has been jailed for a year.

Robert James Templeton, 36, had pleaded guilty to having explosive substances and ammunition under suspicious circumstances.

A court previously heard he was preparing for an economic breakdown.

On Friday he was told he will spend a further 12 months on licence and will be subject to Violent Offences Prevention for five years.

Templeton, of Shancoole in Ballymena, County Antrim, had also pleaded guilty to attempting to convert an item into a firearm, importing a friction-lock baton, possessing a stun gun and possessing documents likely to be of use to a person "committing or preparing an act of terrorism".

All the offences were committed between 12 March 2015 and 5 July 2019.

Belfast Crown Court heard that on 5 July 2019 police searched his "cluttered and dishevelled'' home and uncovered gunpowder, chemicals and fertilisers, fuses, fireworks, ball bearings, nuts and washers, metal pipes and tools along with ammunition and instruction manuals in how to make improvised bombs and firearms.

Officers also uncovered a catapult, large swords including a Samurai sword, a crossbow and bolts and a "significant quantity" of food.

A book entitled US Army Improvised Munitions Handbook was found in the master bedroom which had a lock on the outside of the door.

Other documents seized included one entitled The Zip Gun... the simplest of improvised firearms.

'Hoarding'

The prosecution described it as an "Aladdin's cave" of weaponry and bomb components and told Judge Patricia Smyth it was accepted that Templeton had all the materials as a result of his "compulsive purchasing for the purposes of making improvised explosive devices and there was no concerted effort by him to put those items together. So there is a hoarding element to this case".

During police interviews, Templeton initially refused to answer and instead gave a prepared statement, in which he claimed he was "interested in making pyrotechnics and rockets," that his wife had nothing to do with it, that he had the various tools and pipes to make a block-cutting machine, and denied being associated with any paramilitary organisation or the instigation or preparation of any terrorist acts.

He later offered up what he said were "innocent explanations" for the items, revealing that he believed in "prepping ideology" where devotees gather items and prepare for such instances as economic and social breakdown.

Sentencing Templeton, Judge Smyth said he had not been holding the explosives and ammunition for a terrorist purpose or on behalf of a terrorist organisation.

She said Templeton had deliberately acquired the explosives and components with the intention of making devices which had the capacity to be lethal.

"However, they were not for the purposes of targeting any specific individual or premises, rather to build and thereby satisfy his unhealthy interest in such devices,'' she said.

Despite acquiring all the component parts, Judge Smyth said Templeton had not in fact constructed any viable devices and he had "no link whatsoever to a terrorist organisation".

A pre-sentence report by the Probation Service said Templeton's behaviour appeared to have been motivated by a "descent into a bunker mentality of prepping for a much feared and anticipated collapse of social order and the need to take steps to be able to survive such a catastrophic event''.