Cache of weapons stored at Michael Kay’s Richmond home
When police raided Michael James Kay’s Sydney property and found dozens of guns and weapons, they feared they’d stopped a mass shooting plan. Instead, Kay claims, he was preparing for “Doomsday”.
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A former prison guard turned “Doomsday prepper” claimed he needed military-grade weaponry and thousands of bullets stashed around his Sydney property for when society eventually broke down and is consumed by anarchy and riot erupt in the streets.
After discovering knives, almost a dozen guns, crossbows, sniper training books and ammunition inside a shed at Michael James Kay’s Richmond home last year, police feared they had stumbled across a mass shooting plot in the making.
But the former NSW Corrective Services officer, who was stripped of a firearms licence in 2010, told police he had amassed the huge cache in preparation for the “end of law and order”.
“I needed very much to keep myself safe from roving bands or hoards of rioting people when society breaks down, which it will,” he told police, according to court documents.
“I need to keep my family and myself safe.”
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The 66-year-old had been part of the prison tactical Immediate Action Team responsible for breaking up jail riots and other outbreaks of extreme violence before leaving Corrective Services in 2010.
He had risen through the prison ranks to become a senior guard but it was not a smooth ascent.
Kay made headlines in The Sunday Telegraph in 2000, when he got into strife with his bosses for posting photos of a jail riot on a pro-gun website.
In 2008, he accused Corrective Services of discriminating against him after he complained about the mistreatment of an inmate inside Parklea jail.
Two years later, with his mental health deteriorating, Key left Corrective Services and his firearms licence was cancelled.
He handed in his weapons to police in 2010 and it wasn’t until last year that he caught the attention of law enforcement again.
It was reported last year that Australian Border Force raised red flags when Kay made dozens of online purchases, including for gun parts and bulletproof clothing, in a short time frame.
NSW Drug and Firearms Squad detectives raided Kay’s home in Richmond in Sydney’s north west last August and uncovered the dangerous stockpile in a shed at the back of the property.
Police originally alleged they found more than 200 weapons but Kay has since pleaded guilty to possessing 11 firearms, more than a dozen knives and 13,5000 rounds of ammunition.
Other charges were withdrawn or will be taken into account at his sentencing in Penrith District Court on Tuesday.
According to a statement of agreed facts, Kay’s armoury included a bolt action repeating rifle, an SKS assault rifle with telescopic sight and three crossbows hidden on coathangers underneath clothing.
He also denied ever using the weapons and said he kept them for his protection.
“They were if there was a breakdown of society or breakdown of law and order or whatever, or someone attacked me, I would need them for my defence and the defence of my family,” he told police.
“I believe those things can happen. If there was ever a situation where society broke down or there was no law and order I had to do hunting and fend for myself and my family, I wouldn’t be able to them then, and I would need them for that.”
Aside from the cache of guns, there was also flick knives found in different spots around the house, a body armour vest, three gold bars and eight silver bars.
When asked where he got the weapons from and when, Kay told police he bought some of the rifles before his firearms licence was suspended in 2010.
“I need to keep my family and myself safe,” he told police during an interview.
Kay claimed his PTSD left him feeling unsafe and constantly paranoid.
He rarely went outside the house, he claimed, and didn’t like crowds.
“I rarely go down to the shops,” he told police.
Kay will be sentenced for weapon, ammunition and proceeds of crime offences.
Originally published as Cache of weapons stored at Michael Kay’s Richmond home