EXCLUSIVE: Shock as Gun and explosives workshop found on the Buckles Lane caravan site in South Ockendon

A GUN and explosives workshop was being secretly run on Britain's biggest travelling showmen's site.

Blank-firing pistols imported from Turkey were converted into deadly firearms, for sale to organised crime gangs across London and the south east, in a static caravan transformed into a makeshift workshop, Kingston Crown Court heard.

The unit was equipped with drills, lathes and welding equipment to carry out the illegal conversions and to transform the ammunition into deadly bullets, which expand inside the body with the aim of causing bigger injuries.

The National Crime Agency (NCA) has previously warned about the use by organised crime gangs of converted blank guns imported from Turkey which are made into firearms in backroom workshops.

But, police who raided the Buckles Lane site in South Ockendon, Essex, on November 6 2024, also found gunpowder and evidence of attempts to make homemade bombs inside the converted mobile home.

Buckles Lane site was authorised as a site for travelling showmen with 31 caravan pitches for winter quarters after development began in the 1940s.

It has since been unlawfully expanded to 111 pitches, housing more than 1,000 people.

Unbeknown to other occupants of the huge site, Thomas McKenna, who had a number of mobile homes there, had converted one of them into the deadly workshop.

In 2024 the 59-year-old was involved in converting Ceonic brand blank-firing pistols and ammunition into the dangerous products to sell to gangsters through an organised crime network, the court heard.

Police raided McKenna's address after he was suspected to be the supplier of a converted pistol and expanding ammunition which was found during a police search of a 'high end' used car dealership in Mereworth, near Maidstone, Kent, two weeks earlier on October 23.

Allan Crosby and Ryan Smith, also known as Robert Sterling, both 44, ran the business called Sterling Sports and Prestige Ltd from a unit at the Alders Industrial Estate.

The gun and ammunition were found concealed under packets of paper while bundles of cash were found inside in a paper bag under the office desk.

When armed police later swamped McKenna's property they also found evidence of him being linked to extreme right wing anti Muslim activity and of attempts to make improvised explosive devices with gunpowder stored at the workshop.

They also found documents and videos showing how to make guns and explosives from scrap metal, including one with instructions on building a homemade Sten submachine gun.

A source linked to the site said: 'People are used to police turning up on the site, but this was something else. There was a full blown troop of armed police in helmets searching everywhere and police vehicles all over the place.

'They said they wouldn't say what was happening but someone managed to get out of one of them that it was to do with bombs and terrorism.'

McKenna and his girlfriend, Tina Smith, who also lived there, were arrested on suspicion of several firearms offences.

Ahead of the trial McKenna admitted a string of offences including converting imitation firearms into firearms, conspiracy to sell or transfer prohibited firearms, conspiracy to sell or transfer prohibited ammunition, possession of prohibited firearms and possession of prohibited ammunition.

Tina Smith admitted one count of possession of a prohibited firearm in respect of one of the converted Ceonic pistols.

She and McKenna also both pleaded guilty to making explosives, while he admitted attempting to make explosives, but they denied it was in connection with terrorism and they also denied being in possession of other weapons including crossbows, throwing axes, a hunting knife and knuckle dusters for a terrorist purpose.

But, the pair did admit to the collection of documents and videos relating to making explosives which were likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism, including one specifically on how to make a Sten submachine gun from scrap metal parts.

A CPS source confirmed the pair were linked to anti-Muslim right wing extremism but acted independently and were not park of any group.

Details of McKenna and Tina Smith's pleas to the firearms offences emerged during the trial of Crosby and Ryan Smith who denied possession of the firearm found at their car business.

The jury was not allowed to know about the terrorism charges for fear it may prejudice the case and details can only be reported after the lifting of this reporting restriction.

None of the other defendants who were charged in connection with the supply of the converted firearms and ammunition were implicated in any of the alleged terrorism offences McKenna and Tina Smith faced.

As part of the wider firearms investigation, both men were arrested at their homes on March 20 2025 after DNA evidence linked Smith to the gun and Crosby to the ammunition.

In June 2025 Crosby admitted possession of the ammunition and also possession with intent to supply nearly half a kilogram of cocaine found at his home at the time of his arrest.

Prosecuting, Quinn Hawkins, told their trial: 'They obtained the firearm and ammunition from a man by the name of Thomas

McKenna who was engaged in converting and manufacturing items such as these. This they did so through a criminal network of individuals concerned in the supply of prohibited firearms and ammunition to those who wanted them, in London and the surrounding counties.

'McKenna was at the time living on a large site at Buckles Lane, South Ockendon. He had a number of static caravans, one of which was set up as a workshop – well equipped with drills, lathe, welding equipment etc.

'It became clear that McKenna was converting blank-firing pistols into viable lethal firearms, which are prohibited under the law.

'His premises were searched by the police on November 6 2024, and a number of prohibited firearms, including converted Ceonic pistols, compatible ammunition, the workshop and tools were discovered.

'Blank-firing pistols are sold with their barrels purposefully obstructed. McKenna was converting these by drilling or otherwise machining out the obstruction, so that the firearm could then be used to discharge ‘real’ bullets.

'He was also producing prohibited ammunition, by modifying blank 9mm PA calibre cartridges so as to insert within them projectiles that are designed to expand on impact.

'These were suitable for use in the converted Ceonic pistols, and could therefore be supplied together with the lethal firearm, ready to go. One of McKenna’s purposes in converting firearms and modifying ammunition was to provide them for onward transfer/sale, as part of the criminal enterprise that I have mentioned.'

The wider firearms supply crime gang was made up of McKenna, his girlfriend, Patrick Loughnane, 59, Ricky Dorey, 43, who also lived at Buckles Lane, his brother Robert Dorey, 44, and a woman called Tammy Rigg, 39.

The court heard that cell site evidence showed that on September 18 2024, McKenna travelled from Buckles Lane to Sterling Sports and Prestige, while Crosby was also in the area.

Surveillance and cell site evidence showed that 12 days later he and Tina Smith parked in Palm Avenue, Sidcup, close to where Crosby was living.

The prosecution said this was to handover ammunition and it followed phone contact between McKenna, Loughnane and Ricky Dorey, during which there was mention of 'seeds', a criminal term for ammunition.

The postcode for the meeting was also provided to McKenna by Ricky Dorey, via Loughnane.

The court heard that Crosby and Ryan Smith, from Dunton Green, Kent, were both convicted in 2016 for separate offences of supplying large amounts of cocaine and received significant sentences before becoming friends in prison.

Ryan Smith also met Robert Dorey in HMP Coldingley in Surrey during the same sentence.

Subsequent forensic examination of the gun and ammunition found at the car business discovered they were made in an identical way to those found at McKenna's workshop.

Crosby denied any knowledge of the gun and Smith said he had not previously seen the gun or ammunition and had no idea how his DNA was on the firearm.

The jury found Crosby guilty of possession of the firearm and Ryan Smith guilty of possession of the firearm and ammunition.

They are due to be sentenced with McKenna and Tina Smith at the court on January 29.

Loughnane, from Hayes, both Doreys and Rigg all pleaded guilty to conspiracy to sell or transfer prohibited firearms in connection with separate sales at a separate hearing and will be sentenced at Harrow Crown Court on February 26.