This is the moment armed police swooped to arrest a transgender former Police Community Support Officer convicted of trying to make a semi-automatic gun with a 3D printer.
Zoe Watts was jailed for eight-and-a-half years this morning after jurors heard the 39-year-old had an ‘obsession’ with weapons and attempted to make the lethal firearm at her home to ‘sneak past law enforcement’.
Video obtained by the Daily Mail shows Watts being arrested at the wheel of her Peugeot 206 in a cathedral city last December.
She was filmed emerging from the grey car with her hands on her head after it was boxed in by two unmarked police cars, assisted by a third liveried SUV, on Boultham Park Road in Lincoln.
Video from an adjacent property’s CCTV system which was posted on Facebook showed armed officers running to surround the vehicle.
A second clip filmed from the rear of the incident showed six officers pointing their weapons at the Peugeot on the main road in the Boultham suburb.
Armed officers were also seen at Watts’ home, where they waited for her to leave before executing a warrant.
Sarah Fotheringham saw the drama unfold after she came home from work to make a sandwich for lunch.
The 54-year-old cleaner told the Daily Mail at the time: ‘There were lots of police outside – with some at each end of the incident to block off the road.
‘After the first three cars came a police van arrived and they took her away quite quickly in that. Then a dog unit arrived and a sniffer dog examined the car before they searched the boot.
‘It was all quite a drama.’
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.
Prosecutor Jonathan Dee said today that it was the first time ‘this particular weapon has been found in this country’.
He said the initials of the ‘semi-automatic’ FGC MK II Nutty weapon attempted to be made by Watts stood for the words ‘F**kgun control.’
The defendant appeared for sentencing at Lincoln Crown Court today via videolink from HMP Downview in Sutton, Surrey.
During her trial earlier this year, jurors heard how police found an ‘arsenal’ of weapons at Watts’ home.
Officers recovered a 3D printer from a cupboard in Watts’ home along with many of the parts needed to make a gun.
The defendant had Googled two days before her arrest: ‘Has anybody been killed by a 3D printed gun?’
Mr Dee 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’.
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.’
He told jurors: ‘This was a lethal weapon, you can make on your own, and sneak past law enforcement.’
The proescutor 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’.
In a statement following the sentencing, Lincolnshire Police said officers had discovered an ‘Aladdin’s cave’ of weapons, including knives and a crossbow, alongside parts for 3D printed guns at Watts’ home.
Detective inspector Gemma Skipworth said the case ‘Sends a clear message that if you’re doing something wrong behind closed doors, it doesn’t mean you’re safe and can break the rules with impunity.’
She added: ‘3D printers are becoming more and more popular, and people are naturally exploring what they can do with this technology.
‘But it’s important to know that when you are downloading plans and use a machine to produce something like a firearm, you’re breaking the rules.
‘And if you are caught, you will face a lengthy jail sentence’.
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.
