Buckland
An extraordinary criminal case has come to an end, in which the UK’s largest illegal firearms stash was discovered in a sleepy Suffolk village, leading to the jailing of a Norfolk-based arms dealer with ‘Walter Mitty’ tendencies.
Fantasist and fraudster Anthony Buckland lived in a world of make-believe.
He even bestowed a knighthood on himself which he used to underpin his charade as a man of substance and breeding.
The self-styled Sir Anthony Buckland, of Mill Road, Stoke Holy Cross, also invented a fictitious military career for himself way beyond the reality of his actual army service.
Buckland, known as Buckers or Tony, even claimed to have served in the SAS. The truth, it appears, is he never rose beyond the rank of lance corporal in the Royal Engineers.
An ordinary boy
He has been found guilty of an extraordinary crime but Anthony Buckland was an “ordinary boy” while growing up.
Buckland, who was convicted by a jury of helping to amass the biggest ever illegal gun haul in the UK, lived with his parents in Stoke Holy Cross.
An elderly woman, who did not want to be named, knew his mother and described him as an “ordinary boy” growing up.
Buckland’s parents owned Mill House, where he still lives now. A 62-year-old man who knows Buckland, but who did not want to be named, said his initial gun shop in a building on Mill Road, which is now being lived in following a conversion, was the cause of some concern as it had just a wooden front and tin roof.
He said: “He had Uzis and all manner of heavy duty stuff at one time.
“It only had a tin roof which from a security point of view wasn’t too clever.”
In the past 10 years or so the gun shop moved to a building at the back of Buckland’s house which is accessed by a dirt track off the main road.
There is little to identify it as a gun shop with just a little window in a white door with a diving sticker on it – another of the pastimes he was interested in.
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A 62-year-old man, who did not want to be named, but who has lived in Stoke Holy Cross for about 30 years, said: “He’s always seemed a bit of a Walter Mitty, a bit of a dodgy character to me.
Stockman’s Lodge
Another illustration of Buckland’s Walter Mitty-style claims was his “holiday home” in north Norfolk.
Grandly named Stockman’s Lodge and located in Binham, near Holt, it can not be found on any map.
This is because it is believed to be a caravan.
Keith Leesmith, clerk of Binham Parish Council, said he had “never heard of the place” while David Frost, parish council chairman, was equallys in the dark over its existence.
He said: “The short answer to that is it doesn’t ring a bell at all. The name doesn’t mean anything to me.”
“He was not particularly popular in the village. You would have to go a long way to find anyone who had a good word to say about him, especially in the gun shooting fraternity.
“Whatever he said I took with a pinch of salt because there was not much proof of anything.
“I think (he said) his father was one of the founder members of the SAS and he lived on that reputation for a lot of years.
“Business-wise I don’t think he ever did much good. His first wife used to keep him and the second probably kept him as well.
“He always did different things with diving schools that took people down on diving trips but nothing ever seemed to make any money.”
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A senior figure in the SAS is said to have been incensed when he was informed of Buckland’s false claim to membership of the world-renowned elite regiment. Buckland also claims to have been made an MBE, yet he was never given the honour. A false citation for the MBE is understood to have hung on his office wall.
One lie begat another. He even convinced a former senior member of the British army to issue a character reference for him in court.
At a Brass in the Park event in the grounds of Bergh Apton Manor in Norfolk in 2008 Buckland proudly wore a formal white dress jacket adorned with medals on his chest, looking every inch a military gentleman.
He was brought up at Franks Hall, an Elizabethan country house in Horton Kirby, Kent, where his late father was the estate manager.
He said he had joined the army in 1969 as an armourer with the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers. However, other sources have him enlisting in 1971.
On the completion of his military career Buckland said he formed A R Buckland Gunsmiths with his father at Stoke Holy Cross in Norfolk.
He then diversified the business to include diving and related equipment which he claimed was one of the skills he acquired during his military service.
But eventually reality caught up with him.
