Trans former police support officer obsessed with weapons jailed for eight years after trying to make semi-automatic gun using 3D printer

Daily Mail​

08-08-2025

A transgender former Police Community Support Officer who used a 3D printer to try and make a semi-automatic weapon at home was jailed today for eight years and six months.
Jurors were told Zoe Watts, 39, had an with an 'obsession' for weapons and attempted to make the lethal weapon to 'sneak past law enforcement'.
Jonathon Dee, prosecuting, said the initials of the 'semi-automatic' FGC MK II Nutty weapon attempted to be made by Watts stood for the words 'F**k gun control.'
Watts was convicted in June of using a 3D printer to try and make a lethal firearm after jurors discounted the defendant's claim that she had been making a 'fidget' toy gun as a Christmas present.
Sentencing her this morning, Judge Simon Hirst said Watts had a 'deeply troubling internet search history.'
Watts had previously worked as a Lincolnshire PCSO for more than eight years an once ran a survivalist YouTube channel.
The judge acknowledged that Watts would find custody difficutl due to her neurodivergence, previous policing career and 'transgender identity' but said she would have to serve half of her sentence before being relesed on licence.
Watts is believed to be the first person in the UK to be convicted of attempting to manufacture such a prohibited gun with a 3D printer.
The prosecutor said today that it was the first time 'this particular weapon has been found in this country'.
The defendant appeared for sentencing at Lincoln Crown Court today via videolink from HMP Downview in Sutton, Surrey.
She was arrested after armed police were deployed to her home in Lincoln last December and uncovered an 'arsenal' of weapons at the address.
Jurors heard Watts, who has previous convictions for possessing illegal weapons and manufacturing explosives, had Googled two days before her arrest: 'Has anybody been killed by a 3D printed gun?'
The prosecutor said the offence required a degree of planning - it took Watts at least two weeks to manufacture the weapon 'as each individual component had to be printed'.
Jurors heard police recovered a 3D printer from a cupboard in Watts' home along with many of the parts needed to make a gun.
When firearms experts tried to put the weapon together it did not work but the prosecution said it would be a 'lethal' prohibited weapon if manufactured correctly.
Mr Dee told Lincoln Crown Court: 'If this item had been made correctly it would have been a prohibited firearm.'
There was no issue it was Watts who was responsible for making the item, Mr Dee told the jury.
As well as the 3D printer, metal parts including screws, bolts and a 'very short barrel' were recovered, Mr Dee said.
The court heard today that Watts was 'acting alone' rather than part of a wider group.
Mr Dee said aggravating factors were Watts' previous convictions and the fact the semi-automatic weapon she was trying to construct was capable of firing 33 bullets within 15 seconds.
But he said today that 'the Crown would have to accept' that Watts 'neurodivergence' was in part a reason for why the offence was committed.
A pre-sentence report said she was suffering from gender dysphoria, which the NHS describes as 'a sense of unease that a person may have because of a mismatch between their biological sex and their gender identity.'
The report said Watts could be considered vulnerable due to 'her neurodivergence in transgender identity'.
Stuart Lody, defending, said Watts was not a danger to other people, adding that she had a 'childlike quality'.
'There's an innocence which can lead to her putting herself in danger, quite unwittingly', he added.
Mr Lody said Watts had expressed sorrow over her actions 'potentially negatively affecting the way the lesbian, gay and transgender community are viewed and she regrets all of that'.
The jury heard other items including a machete, crossbow, bladed article and bow were recovered from Watts' home.
'The defendant had an arsenal, we say this was part of it,' Mr Dee alleged.
Mr Dee said Watts had also made internet searches relating to samurai swords, knives and guns.
On December 10, Mr Dee alleged, Watts put a search into Google asking: 'Has anybody been killed by a 3D printed gun?'
And the following day, a search was made for the death of Brian Thompson, the CEO of United Healthcare, who had recently been fatally shot outside a hotel in New York, Mr Dee told the jury.
Mr Dee told the jury it was the prosecution case 'this was a lethal weapon, you can make on your own, and sneak past law enforcement.'
During the trial, jurors were shown a YouTube video of a person firing a similar weapon, to illustrate the nature of the kind of weapon Watts was trying to construct.
Watts told jurors 'Christmas is a very important time for me' and said she was using the 3D printer to make items for those important to her.
'If I can 3D print something rather then purchase it, that is what I will do,' Watts added.
Watts said she became aware of the FGC 9 through an internet article but she had no intention of making one herself.
'I thought it was a good base for making a fidget gun,' Watts explained.
Watts told jurors 'weapons' had become normalised during her childhood and she also 'carried tools' during her previous career as a PCSO.
The trial heard she used to run a YouTube channel dedicated to survivalism and bushcraft.
Watts was previously jailed for 27 months in July 2021 after she 'hoarded' banned weapons and explosive substances and also made an improvised explosive device. (IED)
She had admitted making an improvised explosive device, three charges of possession of a prohibited weapon and two counts of inappropriately importing goods.
Police also found a stun gun, butterfly knives and an illegal electric fly-swatter during a raid in October 2020.
On that occasion Watts had made an explosive device out of a modified shotgun cartridge.
A copy of the Anarchist Cookbook - a bomb-making instruction manual - was found on the floor, as well as a homemade wick she produced from a tampon.
Police also found a modified fly swatter able to discharge noxious substances and a wooden sawn-off gun used as 'a prop', the court in 2021 heard.
Dangerous substances - including nitroglycerine, potassium nitrate and nitrocellulose - were found in a cupboard shelving area.