Covid sceptic denies inciting armed uprising during pandemic

A Covid denier amassed an armoury of blades, crossbows and arrows as he called for a violent uprising during the pandemic, a court has heard.

Paul Martin, 60, is on trial at the Old Bailey charged with encouraging terrorism on a Telegram group called The Resistance UK, and having weapons “for the purposes of terrorism”.

Over 16,000 posts, 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, has admitted having a stun gun and denied all other charges.

Prosecuting, Julia Faure-Walker said during the Covid pandemic Mr Martin had been a “particularly active” member of a messaging group called The Resistance UK.

Ms Faure-Walker said Mr Martin compared people protesting against the lockdown restrictions to the French Resistance of World War Two.

She said the group had about 8,000 members, and Mr Martin had posted about 16,000 messages – around 4% of all posted on the forum.

She alleged that “rather than restricting himself to lawful protest”, the defendant had “repeatedly referred to serious violence, criminal damage and disruption of electrical communication systems”.

Ms Faure-Walker told the jury: “There was a risk that some of the group would have been encouraged by what he was saying, and it was all too easy for these messages to be forwarded to someone else.”

She went on to describe some of the posts alleged to have been made by Mr Martin to the group under his username Perpetual Truth.

One post read: “The simple fact is there is no pandemic, never has been. The main goal is to genocide all they can and enslave the survivors.

“That’s been their plan for decades… these world governments are out of control.”

Ms Faure-Walker said Mr Martin had believed that the 5G mobile phone system and the Covid vaccine were part of a global conspiracy, posting his belief that the vaccine was a poison that would be triggered by 5G.

The jury was told Mr Martin urged fellow members of the group to obtain weapons and form militias, targeting council offices and police stations.

In reaction to one lockdown announcement, he allegedly posted: “It’s pure evil. And we’d better get ready to smash skulls and destroy evil.”

The case continues.