Serving member of British armed forces charged with terrorism offences

Royal Marine charged with 'assisting another to commit acts of terrorism'

Ciaran Maxwell’s charges include manufacturing explosive devices (Facebook)

A serving member of the British armed forces has been charged with terrorism offences.

Ciaran Maxwell, 30, was arrested in Somerset on Wednesday, 24 August, by officers from the Metropolitan Police Service’s counter-terrorism unit.

The Royal Marine, from Exminster, Devon, will appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court today, charged with “assisting another to commit acts of terrorism”.

His charges include manufacturing explosive devices and “creating and maintaining hides” in England and Northern Ireland to store weapons, ammunition and explosives.

He is also charged with conducting research resulting in the creation of a library of documents likely to be useful to terrorists – specifically information regarding “the manufacture of explosive substances, the construction of explosive devices and tactics used by terrorist organisations”.

Maxwell is further charged with obtaining an image of an adapted Police Service of Northern Ireland pass card and uniform.

He is also charged with possession of cannabis with intent to supply and possession of images of bank cards and CVC numbers for use in connection with fraud.

Additional reporting by PA