A man has been charged with a string of offences after police recovered weapons and seven railway detonators during a search of a property in Gillingham. Officers were called to Canterbury Street shortly before 1pm on Saturday, August 15, following reports of a disturbance. Police said it was alleged that an assault had taken place and a vehicle had been damaged. Officers attended and arrested a man who is alleged to have become violent during his arrest. A subsequent search of a property on Canterbury Street led officers to discover a baton, knuckle duster and Taser. Police also searched a shed in the garden, where seven railway detonators were recovered. Railway detonators are small devices designed to be placed on railway tracks, where they produce a loud bang to alert train drivers. Marcus Richards, 55, of Canterbury Street, was subsequently charged with criminal damage, acquiring explosives without a valid certificate, possession of a weapon for the discharge of an electrical incapacitation device, possession of an offensive weapon in a private place, using threatening words and behaviour, assault of an emergency worker and common assault. Richards appeared before Medway Magistrates’ Court on Monday, August 17. He was released on conditional bail and is due to appear again at the same court on January 29, 2027.
