Cops raid home of 73-year-old 'gut nut' who built deadly firearms in his ... trends now

A self-described 'gun nut' who manufactured his own powerful firearms from scratch from his home workshop in Havering has been jailed.

Raymond Frederick Nugent, 73, cut cardboard templates before pressing metal to create the weapons, and designed his own firing mechanisms.

He was caught after a tip-off from the National Crime Agency (NCA) led detectives to discover the cache, which he had been building over many years.

Nugent of Coltishall Road, Hornchurch, was sentenced at Snaresbrook Crown Court yesterday to seven-and-a-half years' imprisonment.

He had been found guilty at an earlier hearing of 45 firearms offences.

The NCA alerted the Met after intelligence revealed that Nugent had imported a blank firing weapon from the Czech Republic.

In November 2018 a warrant was executed under the Firearms Act at his home and officers discovered a number of safes. Inside they found batches of firearms and ammunition that had been carefully wrapped and stored.

Nugent was arrested and taken for interview at an east London police station as police continued to search the address.

Even from initial inspection it was apparent to specialist officers at the scene that he was in possession of viable firearms. They were seized and taken for examination.

Incredibly several of these were items Nugent had made from scratch himself at his workshop, using drills and vices to create weapons fully capable of firing. An expert pointed out during the trial that one weapon Nugent had produced was in fact 25% more powerful than a factory-produced firearm of similar calibre and style.