A customer services employee from Screwfix in Folkestone was recently sentenced to two years in a Young Offenders' Institution after it was discovered he had stashed two guns in a shed at the store.

Jake Ridley, 20, allegedly police he had thought about fighting against so-called Islamic State, but hadn't made any concrete plans and denied belonging to any extremist organisations.

Canterbury Crown Court heard how Screwfix bosses had no idea the weapons were being stored in a locked gun case in a secured shed on-site. Mr Ridley told officers that he had stored the weapons there after his family told him to take them away from his home a few weeks earlier.

Mr Ridley had bought the decommissioned weapons and then modified them so they were re-activated. Police were called to the store in January and seized the weapons, which were then tested to reveal both as active.

Mr Ridley, who had been on his day off, was called into the store where he was then arrested. Police officers also discovered a legal WW2 replica machine gun in his bedroom at his home.

Mr Ridley told officers that he had not modified the weapons at Screwfix and had planned to sell them after Christmas.

A Screwfix spokesperson said: "As soon as we were aware of Jake Ridley’s involvement in criminal activity we alerted the police which lead to his termination of employment and criminal conviction. 

"We have worked with the relevant authorities during their investigations.’’