Home Affairs Correspondent
A lorry driver has been sentenced to a minimum of 16 years in prison after running a makeshift gun conversion workshop from a caravan in Essex and sharing violent anti Muslim and racist messages as part of a far right firearms conspiracy.
Thomas McKenna, 60, of South Ockendon, was sentenced at Kingston Crown Court on February 6, for his central role in converting blank firing pistols into lethal firearms for distribution to a criminal network operating across London and the South East.
McKenna, who ran the gun conversion operation from one of three caravans at a large traveller site in Buckles Lane, used basic tools such as a lathe and drill to turn top venting blank firing weapons into working handguns, prosecutors told the court.
The court heard McKenna sent extremist messages to associates urging preparation for a so called “race war”, including calls to “get yourself ready” and statements that “the time for protesting is over”. In one message read to the court, he wrote that Muslims and immigrants should be “neutralised” “before they are too many”.
Prosecutor Emily Dummett told the court that McKenna “wrote messages about plans to ‘kill’, ‘shoot’, ‘unalive’ and ‘neutralise’ Muslims and immigrants”.
Police later recovered converted firearms and ammunition linked to McKenna from the home of Faisal Razzaq in Edgware, north London. Razzaq had previously served as the getaway driver in the fatal 2005 shooting of PC Sharon Beshenivsky in Bradford.
In November 2024, officers raided the caravans and found two loaded firearms, two improvised explosive devices containing black powder and shrapnel, as well as other weapons, including crossbows, hunting knives and knuckle dusters.
Extremist material recovered included a copy of Poor Man’s James Bond, a handbook containing instructions on making explosives.
Six reactivated blank firing pistols linked to McKenna have been recovered, though prosecutors believe he manufactured more. Blank firing guns, particularly Turkish manufactured top venting models (TVBFs), have become a target for law enforcement due to their ease of conversion and use in violent crime, partly prompting a national gun amnesty in which nearly 3,000 such weapons were surrendered to police in 2025.
McKenna’s partner, Tina Smith, 55, who lived with him in the caravan workshop, also received a custodial sentence after admitting her role in the conspiracy. Prosecutors said she shared his extremist mindset and sent him links to videos demonstrating how to make explosives.
Several other members of the network, including intermediaries and individuals who helped source customers for the converted weapons, have been convicted and are due to be sentenced in later hearings.
Police said the case exposed a significant illegal firearm supply chain and underscored the risk posed by converting blank firing weapons into lethal guns capable of serious violence.
One investigator noted that McKenna’s arrest in November 2024 saw a significant reduction in the number of converted blank firearms involved in shootings in London, highlighting the impact of dismantling his network.
