A military enthusiast has been told to stick to helmets and uniforms after police seized an arsenal of weapons and ammunition from his Sidmouth home.

Christopher Payne had potentially lethal dum-dum bullets, live shotgun cartridges, blanks, air rifles, knives and a bizarre home-made Taser made out of a plastic fly-swatter.

He is a collector of militaria but was not allowed to have any firearms or ammunition because he was jailed for voyeurism in 2016, leading to a five-year ban that was still in place when police raided his home in the summer of 2020.

Payne, aged 46, of Orchard Close, Sidmouth, admitted possessing a prohibited weapon and three counts of possessing ammunition, and was ordered to do 80 hours of unpaid community work and 20 days of rehabilitation activities by Judge Timothy Rose at Exeter Crown Court.

The judge told him: “You need to stop this. If you want to collect militaria, then collect uniforms or helmets, but not these dangerous items.”

The judge ordered the forfeiture and destruction not only of the items Payne admitted to possessing, but his entire arsenal, which included flick-knives, push knives, and six air pistols.

Miss Kelly Scrivener, prosecuting, said the prohibited weapon was a fly swat which had been adapted crudely and unsuccessfully to try to create a stun gun. It was powered by two small batteries and produced only a red light rather than a spark when activated.

The illegally held ammunition consisted of four expanding cartridges, 68 blank cartridges, and five shotgun cartridges.

Mr Daniel Pawson-Pounds, defending, said Payne collected the items as a hobby and had no sinister intent. He did not have any guns to fire them and they posed no danger to anyone. He said the fly swat was more like a toy than a weapon.