Radicalised ex-soldier Gavin Rae jailed for trying to buy guns

A radicalised ex-soldier has been jailed for 18 years for trying to buy guns after allegedly being thwarted from taking his family to join the Islamic State terror group in Syria.

Muslim extremist convert Gavin Rae, 36, was brought back to the UK in July 2015 along with his wife and children after being denied entry to Turkey.

avin Rae, now known as Yaqub Rae, was dishonourably discharged from the King's Regiment.

Four months later he was arrested by armed officers in a Travelodge hotel room near Crewe in Cheshire for attempting to buy pistols and machine guns in a police sting.

Jurors heard how construction worker Rae, who converted to Islam in 2012 and is now known as Yaqub Rae, had been befriended by an undercover officer while working in Edinburgh.

The room at the Travelodge where the sting operation took place.

At a hostel where he was staying, he met the operative "Tony" who posed as a fellow Muslim from Eastern Europe, Preston Crown Court heard.

Undercover recordings captured Rae telling his new friend: "It's not gonna be long now before Islam will come to the shores of this country...and if they reject it we'll fight them. But we want to live under sharia not democracy."

He said of Britain: "It's full of paedophiles, sex people. It's horrible. Filthy mate. Filthy. Females, the women, the women are filthy you know. Disgusting."

The gun used in the sting operation.
Rounds of ammunition purchased by Gavin Rae from an undercover officer.
Rae handed over £850 in cash for the Baikal handgun before being arrested.

Rae joined the King's Division of the British Army in February 1997 but was discharged 14 months later without going on operations after failing a drugs test for cannabis.

He had been convicted in 2004 of four robberies of betting shops in Manchester using an imitation handgun.

Rae, originally from Preston, was last month found guilty of possessing a Baikal gun with intent to endanger life and attempting to possess ammunition.

Gavin Rae served seven years of his 10-year robberies sentence.

He was also convicted on three counts of encouraging or assisting the commission of an offence by trying to get an undercover operative known to source a Glock gun, Uzi and ammunition.

The judge, sentencing Rae at the Old Bailey, told him he had been convicted on "overwhelming evidence" and had no doubt he was a dangerous offender.

Rae appeared at the hearing via video link from Manchester and wept throughout with his head buried in his hand.

His 18-year sentence was handed down along with a further five years on extended licence.