Former councillor jailed for terror offences

A former councillor who discussed “killing migrants when they arrive on their boats” and shared a manifesto by Norwegian mass killer Anders Breivik has been jailed.

Ivan Jennings, 46, from Stafford, had previously admitted encouraging terrorism and disseminating a terrorism publication.

Leicester Crown Court heard Jennings was an active participant in several extreme right-wing Telegram groups and identified a Pakistan Independence Day event as a potential target.

The father-of-four was jailed for five years and three months.

Prosecutor Daniel Oscroft said Jennings had been involved in at least seven extreme right-wing groups on the messaging platform.

He told one chat group “something needed to be done soon” about migrants arriving in the UK on boats and that each person “needs to take out at least 200 and stop the constant influx”.

In another post, when asked if he supported murder, Jennings replied: “It’s not murder because we are at war. If it’s subhumans, it’s justified and actually needed.”

Some of Jennings’ messages were read out in court.

He told one group he was in contact with a man “who wanted to go in a boat and make a difference to the amount of people coming into the UK”.

The court heard he searched online for motorboat chartering services in Dover and how much it cost to hire a boat in the UK.

After another user shared a video of a boat, Jennings commented: “We need one of those to take out the dinghy divers.”
‘We need to start acting’

Sharing a post about a Pakistan Independence Day celebration in Manchester, he identified it as a target and wrote: “We need to start acting.”

When another user said it “disgusted” them to see such an event in the UK, Jennings replied: “Exactly, we need to start acting to turn the tables.”

In another message about the event, he wrote: “If I go to prison for anything, it’s going to be for making a real change.”

Jennings also said “we need a bigger impact” after referencing the 2019 attacks on two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, in which 51 people were killed.

The court heard Jennings also discussed how to poison Jews and Muslims.

Oscroft said there had been discussion in one smaller group about poisonous mushrooms and how they could be put into the food of Jews or Muslims.

Jennings also shared a link to a collection called “books you are not supposed to read”, which included a manifesto written by Breivik, who killed 77 people in Norway in 2011.

Defending Jennings, barrister Oliver Renton said his client had struggled after suffering a cardiac arrest at work in 2023.

He said Jennings had descended into “fear and isolation” and become susceptible to “nihilistic, bleak world views”.

Renton added that others had described Jennings as a “good neighbour” and a “good man of his community”.

Sentencing him, Judge Andrew Lockhart KC said Jennings had “deeply held abhorrent and racist views”.

The judge said Jennings now accepted he had “dehumanised whole groups of people”, including Jews and Muslims.

The 46-year-old will also spend a further five years on extended licence after his release from prison.

BBC News