Robbie Fardell: Home arsenal owned by keen 'armourer' uncovered after border force intercept Chinese weapon

A Rotherham dad’s home arsenal, which included a viable, ‘lethal’ air weapon, was uncovered after border force officers intercepted a parcel containing a ghost folding deformation revolver he had ordered from China. 

While self-described ‘armourer’ Robbie Fardell, never came into possession of the deformation revolver, the discovery prompted officers from the Yorkshire and Humber Regional Organised Crime Unit to execute a warrant at his home address. 

During the course of the two-day search, carried out in July 2023, a number of ‘suspicious items and weapons’ including a ‘lethal’ air weapon were recovered, prosecutor Ian West told Sheffield Crown Court. 

A hearing held on May 31, 2024 heard how officers recovered a number of prohibited weapons, including: a 0.50 Calibre Umarex airgun, which is marketed in the UK as a paintball gun; a black, plastic taser; a stun gun along with ammunition in the form of four 0.380 calibre primed cartridges, from Fardell’s marital bed. Mr West said ‘the bed was being shared at the time by the defendant, his wife and their young child’.

Referring to the potentially ‘lethal’ Calibre Umarex gun, The Recorder of Sheffield, Judge Jeremy Richardson KC, said: “It’s noteworthy there were no paintball items near that item.”

“In my judgement, this was not intended to be used as a toy.”

Judge Richardson noted that the German-manufactured weapon is described in Germany as a ‘home defence revolver’. 

He continued: “It is, in effect, a revolver. It looks like a real revolver.”

Following forensic testing, the weapon was found to be ‘capable of discharging lethal projectiles,’ Mr West said.

On Fardell’s personal Facebook page he described himself as a ‘engineer, welder and armourer’. 

During his police interview, Fardell, aged 39, admitted to buying the items, and claimed to have done so legally. 

The court was told that in addition to the prohibited items stored at his home, Fardell also had a large collection of legal weapons, which included: zombie knives; German knives from World War Two; a deactivated firearm; a deactivated sawn-off shotgun; a collection of batons; ammunition parts and moulds for ammunition; a 3D printer and a template for shotgun construction. 

Fardell, of Park Road, Swinton, Rotherham, was subsequently charged with, and pleaded guilty to, offences including two counts of possessing a weapon for the discharge of a noxious liquid/gas/electrical incapacitation device/thing, one count of possessing ammunition for a firearm without a certificate and one count of possessing a firearm of length less than 30cm/60cm, which carries a mandatory minimum five-year sentence. 

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Defending, Dale Harris said the Calibre Umarex airgun is ‘sold legally in this country’.

“It’s designed to discharge paintballs, not bullets,” continued Mr Harris.

He also argued that the weapon was only found to discharge projectiles outside of the legal limit, when using the laboratory’s stock ammunition, and in four out of the 12 forensic tests carried during forensic analysis.

“The casual user or buyer of these weapons, which are freely available, would never know they have purchased something illegal,” Mr Harris said, and suggested Fardell’s case met the criteria for exceptional circumstances, which would allow Judge Richardson to step back from the mandatory minimum sentence. 

Judge Richardson responded by saying that had the Calibre Umarex airgun been found on its own, and the defendant did not possess any other weapons, then Mr Harris’ argument ‘might have a little more potency’. 

He added: “The problem is there are associated firearm offences and all this paraphernalia and bits of ammunition.”

Mr Harris noted that forensic testing revealed Fardell had not made any attempt to modify the airgun.

“It’s still available for sale…it would be disproportionate for somebody to be able to buy something, without doing anything to it and without having the equipment to test [its legality]...there may be thousands of other people in this country in the same position, having unsuspected air weapons in their possession and being at risk of five years’ imprisonment. That’s the situation this defendant finds himself in.”

Mr Harris also told the court that Fardell has been diagnosed with a borderline personality disorder, and has split up from his partner since these offences were committed. 

Judge Richardson jailed Fardell for five years, and said he did not believe his case met the criteria of exceptional circumstances, which would allow him to step back from the mandatory minimum sentence. 

He told him: “You have an unhealthy interest in weapons of violence.”

Fardell agreed to surrender his legal weapons for destruction, on the proviso that the electronic devices belonging to his former partner and child which had been seized would be returned to them.