A civilian Lincolnshire Police worker admitted making an improvised explosive device found following a search of her home.
Former PCSO Zoe Ashley Watts, 35, was arrested in October 2020 after police searched her semi-detached house in St Helens Avenue, Lincoln.
It followed concerns raised by the Border Force who had intercepted packages containing two butterfly knives a month earlier.
Watts today appeared at Lincoln Crown Court where she pleaded guilty to making an explosive substance, namely an improvised explosive device, between January 1 and October 4, 2020.
Zoe Watts with a collection of bats.
Andrew Peat, representing the prosecution, said the Crown accepted Watts’ account for why she had the device and other items, and would not pursue a trial on the matter.
Mr Peat told the court: “Unlike similar cases there is no evidence any of these items were possessed with an ideology in mind, anything political.”
When Watts was arrested Lincolnshire Police said officers discovered a quantity of chemicals and a number of weapons.
Nearby residents were evacuated for a number of hours and a bomb disposal team was called out to carry out safety checks before the all clear was given.
Watts, who previously was a member of the Bracebridge Lowfields Community Police Team working in the south of Lincoln, has been suspended by the force pending the outcome of criminal proceedings and an investigation.
She was also a trade union activist serving as the equalities officer for the Lincolnshire Police UNISON.
Watts, who worked for Lincolnshire Police for nine years, had moved to a civilian role by the time of her arrest.
Watts pleaded to five charges relating to other items found in her home and two butterfly knives which were intercepted by the Border Force in September last year.
Zoe will be sentenced on June 29. | Photo: Stephen Daniels
Her guilty pleas were to the following charges:
Making an explosive substance, namely an improvised explosive device, between January 1 and October 4, 2020.
On October 4, 2020 had in her possession a prohibted weapon adapted for discharge of a noxious liquid, gas or other thing, namely an electric fly swat.
On October 4, 2020 had in her possession a prohibited weapon, namely stun gun.
On October 4, 2020 had in her possession a prohibited weapon, namely a taser stun device.
On September 5 improperly imported goods, a prohibited weapon, namely a butterfly knife.
Zoe uses a baseball bat covered in glass and smashes watermelons with faces of famous people including Donald Trump and Boris Johnson. | Still: YouTube
Nick Fooks, defending Watts, told the court she was anxious to be sentenced straight away.
Mr Fooks said: “She is a woman of previous good characher.
“This defendant has already served somewhere in the region of eight months in custody.”
But Judge Catarina Sjolin Knight rejected the application, stating: “It is a very odd set of offences.”
The judge told Watts: “I am going to adjourn your case for the preparation of a pre-sentence report which will address all options, including the risk you pose to others.”
Watts will be sentenced on June 29 and was remanded back into custody.
Assistant Chief Constable at Lincolnshire Police, Kerrin Wilson, says: “We have been and continue to be shocked by this case.
“Our investigation revealed Watts had a fascination with weapons and while there was no evidence to suggest she had plans to use these, the nature of them was disturbing and quite frankly, completely incompatible with what we stand for at Lincolnshire Police.
“The charges relate to the weapons Watts had which are illegal and we believe the explosive device could have been capable of detonating and causing injury to anyone in close proximity of it.
“I fully recognise that our communities may find it worrying to hear that a member of the police was involved in such activity. Cases like this are extremely rare and we have dealt with this very robustly once concerns were brought to our attention.
“I’d like to thank residents for their patience and understanding when properties were evacuated and our investigation team who have worked diligently to bring this case to justice.”
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A 38-year-old man from a North Lincolnshire village charged with murder will face an eight-day trial later this year.
Emergency services were called at 4.23am on Saturday, July 2 to reports that a man was seriously injured on South Parade in central Doncaster.
The 28-year-old victim was taken to hospital but was sadly pronounced dead a short time later.
A post-mortem examination found that he died of injuries to his head, chest and abdomen.
Formal identification of the victim is yet to take place, South Yorkshire Police said earlier this week.
Steven Ling, 38, of Park Drain, Westwoodside in North Lincolnshire, has been charged with murder and was remanded in custody to appear at Doncaster Magistrates Court on Monday, July 4.
Ling later appeared at Sheffield Crown Court on Tuesday, July 5 for a plea and trial preparation hearing.
No pleas were entered during the hearing, but an eight-day trial was set for November 28, 2022. Ling has now been remanded into custody until the next hearing.
The Lincolnite went on a ride-along with a Lincolnshire Police officer from the force’s Roads Policing Unit (RPU), which aims to disrupt criminals’ use of the roads and reduce the number of serious and fatal accidents.
The team will support the county response including local policing, neighbourhood policing and criminal investigation too.
Operations first began in Grantham in January this year and started in Louth earlier this week with a sergeant and nine PCs based in both locations.
The Lincolnite went out on a ride-along with PC Rich Precious from Lincolnshire Police’s Roads Policing Unit. | Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite
PC Rich Precious has been a police officer for 22 years after joining the force in 2000 and he recently rejoined the Roads Policing Unit, working out of Louth.
PC Precious, who also previously worked as a family liaison officer for road deaths for 16 years, took The Lincolnite out in his police car to the A1 up to Colsteworth and then back to Grantham. He described that particular area as “one of the main arterial routes that goes through Lincolnshire”.
PC Rich Precious driving down the A1 up to Colsterworth. | Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite
Speaking about the new Roads Policing Unit, he said: “It’s intelligence led policing, it’s targeted policing in areas that have been underrepresented in terms of police presence, on the roads certainly, over a number of years.
“We’re hoping that the development of this unit will help address that balance, and look towards using the ANPR system to prevent criminals’ use of the road, and to identify key areas or routes where there’s a high percentage of people killed or seriously injured on the road, what we commonly refer to as KSI.
PC Precious is helping to keep the roads safer in Lincolnshire. | Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite
When asked if he thinks the new team will help reduce the number of serious and fatal accidents in the county, he added: “That’s what the the unit designed for. Sadly, in Lincolnshire our road network does seem to incur a number of those KSI accidents year on year, and we need to reduce that.
“I’ve worked additionally in my roles as a family liaison officer on road death for 16 years, so I’ve seen first hand the impact that road death has on families and victims families.
“I know it’s important that we try and reduce those because, it’s very sad to see how a fatal road traffic collision can affect a family and the victims of that family.”
Marc Gee, Inspector for Lincolnshire Police’s Roads Policing Unit. | Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite
Marc Gee, Inspector for the Roads Policing Unit, told The Lincolnite: “Every day there will be officers on duty from both teams and they’ll cover the whole county or the county’s roads.
“Eventually, we’ll have nine police cars and we’ve got six motorbikes. We’ll be utilising them with as many officers as we can every day basically to make our roads safer and enforce against the criminals who feel like it’s okay to come into the county and use our road for criminal purposes.”
Lincolnshire’s Police and Crime Commissioner Marc Jones at the launch of the force’s Roads Policing Unit. | Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite
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