Criminal past of jailed armourer

Police found a wide range of weapons when they arrested Alexander

As illegal gun dealer Paul Alexander starts an indefinite sentence for supplying guns to the criminal underworld, BBC News examines his criminal past.

Despite leaving the Army with an exemplary record after a career of 20 years, Paul Alexander is no stranger to the police.

Described by his own defence counsel Julian Goose QC as a "Walter Mitty character" with a fascination for guns, Alexander, 54, has convictions for arson, causing explosions and passport offences.

Born Paul Daintry in Bury, Lancashire, he lived in Stoke-on-Trent and Bath, as well as regularly travelling abroad.

Thirty aliases

He left the Royal Artillery in 1992, but soon came to the attention of the police.

In 1995 he was accused of arson after setting fire to a council flat he lived in in Stoke-on-Trent.

Police said Alexander was charged but failed to appear in court, and was arrested the following year trying to travel into the US from Canada on a false passport.

Simply, he was dealing in death Mick Layton Soca deputy director Gun dealer jailed indefinitely

He spent several months in prison in Vermont before being deported back to the UK. He received a 12-month prison sentence for the arson attack.

After using a false passport once more to flee from justice in the UK, he was detained in New York in September 2003 and again returned to the UK.

Alexander was jailed for explosives offences at Stafford Crown Court in 2004 but was released in 2005 and set up home in Bath.

Police said he had used about 30 aliases. One of them was Franz Bauer - thought to be taken from Jack Bauer, the fictional government agent in the television series "24".

Another was John Bourne - believed to have been taken from another fictional government agent, Jason Bourne, the central character in the Bourne trilogy of books and films.

Paul Alexander was in the Royal Artillery until 1992

He also published two "vanity" titles as a thriller writer, making less than £15 in royalties but owing the publisher £2,500, police said.

But the next stage in his criminal career was to take a much more serious turn, and led to him supplying weapons which have been connected with a murder and four attempted murders.

He was arrested at a rented house in Essex in September 2008 as part of an operation which followed the death of 11-year-old Rhys Jones in Merseyside.

Deputy director of the Serious Organised Crime Agency (Soca) Mick Layton said: "Simply, he was dealing in death.

"Guns and ammunition supplied by Paul Alexander have been linked to a murder and numerous shootings in major UK cities."

The weapons included 18 handguns, four rifles, two stun guns and two machine guns.

Detectives suspect he made hundreds of thousands of pounds through his criminal enterprise. An investigation aimed at locating and seizing assets is under way.

Det Supt John Quinton of Essex Police said: "He was working on his own but the manufacture of weapons was a business for him.

"He lived a very comfortable lifestyle with excessive outgoings to maintain that lifestyle all funded by his criminal activities."

Investigators said they hoped Alexander's arrest had dealt a significant blow to gangs in the Midlands and North West.