Former British Army driver had explosive substances, crossbows and 3D gun parts at home

A former Ukip member has been found guilty of neo-Nazi terror offences and explosive charges.

Dean Morrice, 34, had explosive substances at his home near Bristol, as well as crossbows and parts for a 3D-printed gun.

His trial at Kingston Crown Court heard that he also ran a social media channel which encouraged far-right terror attacks.

Morrice told the court that he developed an interest in politics in around 2008 or 2009 and was initially a “fan” of Nigel Farage, but then became more extreme.

He said he joined Ukip because he supported its views and was a member until “a few years ago”.

Morrice told jurors that a Facebook group dedicated to “King Nigel [Farage]” was his first engagement with politics online, before he became involved in neo-Nazi chat groups.

He denied all charges but was convicted of eight terror offences and two counts of possessing explosive substances on Thursday.

After 11 hours of deliberations, jurors reached unanimous verdicts on eight charges and found Morrice guilty of having materials to make incendiary thermite and possessing a terrorist document relating to weapons by a majority of 10 to two.

He was convicted of two counts of possessing explosive substances without a lawful purpose, one of encouraging terrorism, three of disseminating terrorist publications and four of possessing documents useful to a terrorist.

The defendant, wearing a dark suit and tie, stood impassively in the dock as the verdicts were read out.

Judge Peter Lodder QC remanded him in custody ahead of a sentencing hearing on Monday.

Morrice, who previously worked as a driver for the British Army, had collected items including crossbows, a tactical vest, skull mask, far-right stickers and a badge reading “ban Islam”.

Prosecutors said he held up the Christchurch mosque shooter Brenton Tarrant “as an example to follow”, and filmed himself “strumming along” with footage of the March 2019 massacre.

Morrice told jurors that a Facebook group dedicated to “King Nigel [Farage]” was his first engagement with politics online, before he became involved in neo-Nazi chat groups.

He denied all charges but was convicted of eight terror offences and two counts of possessing explosive substances on Thursday.

After 11 hours of deliberations, jurors reached unanimous verdicts on eight charges and found Morrice guilty of having materials to make incendiary thermite and possessing a terrorist document relating to weapons by a majority of 10 to two.

He was convicted of two counts of possessing explosive substances without a lawful purpose, one of encouraging terrorism, three of disseminating terrorist publications and four of possessing documents useful to a terrorist.

The defendant, wearing a dark suit and tie, stood impassively in the dock as the verdicts were read out.

Judge Peter Lodder QC remanded him in custody ahead of a sentencing hearing on Monday.

Morrice, who previously worked as a driver for the British Army, had collected items including crossbows, a tactical vest, skull mask, far-right stickers and a badge reading “ban Islam”.

Prosecutors said he held up the Christchurch mosque shooter Brenton Tarrant “as an example to follow”, and filmed himself “strumming along” with footage of the March 2019 massacre.

The Independent

Graham Hart, 69, pleaded guilty to eight charges of spreading racial hatred on radio shows, which contained ‘extreme hatred towards Jews’.

A radio host who pleaded guilty to spreading anti-Jewish racial hatred has been warned he faces a prison sentence.

Graham Hart, 69, of Penponds, Camborne, pleaded guilty to eight counts of producing a programme in service with intent or likely to stir up racial hatred at Truro Crown Court yesterday.

The charges relate to comments made on radio shows between 2016 and 2020, which Campaign Against Antisemitism said was among the worst hatred towards Jews they had ever encountered.

It has been reported Hart had previously posted a song called ‘Hoax Train’ online, which appeared to question the Holocaust to the tune of the disco song, ‘Love Train.’

The Judge, HHJ Linford scheduled a sentencing hearing for 6th August, pending a psychiatric report and warned Hart that he “should anticipate an immediate sentence of imprisonment”.

Charges were brought against Hart following an investigation by Campaign Against Antisemitism sparked a police probe.

The CAA’s Stephen Silverman said: “The offences constitute some of the most extreme hatred towards Jews that we have ever encountered.

“It is vital that the Jewish community is protected from this man, and we hope that the sentence will also send a message to like-minded people that hate towards British Jews will not be tolerated.”

Jewish News

A “right-wing extremist” has been jailed for possessing manuals on knife fighting and making explosives.

Nicholas Brock became an extremist by browsing online, police said

Police found a hoard of Nazi-era daggers, far-right literature and a framed Ku Klux Klan certificate in Nicholas Brock’s bedroom in Berkshire.

The 53-year-old was found guilty in March of three counts of possessing materials which could be of use in preparing terrorist acts.

He was jailed for four years at Kingston-upon-Thames Crown Court.

Brock’s bedroom contained a hoard of Nazi-era daggers

Brock’s collection included a copy of Hitler’s Mein Kampf manifesto and a video of a white supremacist attack on two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, in 2019, the court heard.

Prosecutors described the hoard as materials suitable for “an undergraduate degree” in the far-right.

The stash and a hard drive containing the terrorist manuals were found in 2018 at Brock’s home in Maidenhead, which he shared with his mother.

‘Toxic ideology’

Judge Peter Lodder QC told him: “It is clear from the wide range of other material found on your computer and your hard drive that you are a right-wing extremist.

“Your enthusiasm for this repulsive and toxic ideology is demonstrated by the graphic, racist, Islamophobic and white supremacist iconography which you have stored.”

Edward Butler, defending, said there was no evidence his client intended to carry out an attack.

Brock, of Lancaster Road, previously told police he had an interest in military memorabilia which stemmed from his love of Action Man as a child.

Police said Brock was likely to have been self-radicalised through browsing online.

Det Ch Supt Kath Barnes, head of Counter Terrorism Policing South East, said: “The material Brock had in his possession is dangerous and concerning.

“He had books which would provide techniques on how to fight, assisting someone who was potentially preparing a terrorist act.”

The defendant was ordered to serve another year on licence after his release from prison.

BBC News

A man who sprayed offensive graffiti and swastikas on a mosque in Moray has been jailed for 14 months.

Mark Macpherson, 44, admitted a racially aggravated act of malicious mischief carried out in Elgin.

The incident happened in the town’s South Street in May 2019.

Sheriff Sara Matheson told Inverness Sheriff Court: “The north of Scotland has a long history of tolerance between religions and is friendly and welcoming to all.”

Fiscal depute Robert Weir said Lansana Bangura, the chairman of the Elgin mosque, had locked the building after prayers in the early morning of 20 May.

A witness later heard a noise similar to an aerosol can being sprayed and saw a hooded man.

Police found swastikas sprayed on windows and walls alongside offensive language.

Macpherson was identified through CCTV.

When interviewed by police after being arrested and asked if he could have done it, Macpherson, of Elgin, replied: “To be honest, I don’t know’.”

Defence solicitor Stephen Carty said his client had a heavy addiction to alcohol and drugs.

‘No place in society’

“What we have here is drunken, foolish and abusive behaviour which is a matter of great shame to him”, he said.

“He does not hold these views.”

Sheriff Matheson said: “This act seriously offends and displays ignorance and hate which has no place in our society.

“Any racial prejudice will be treated very seriously by the court.”

The mosque’s Mr Bangura said at the time that such acts did not “unscrew the bond which we have with our community”.

Moray Council had the “deeply offensive” graffiti removed.

BBC News

Nicholas Brock, 53, is covered in neo-Nazi tattoos while his bedroom is covered in SS memorabilia. He was convicted after police found he had manuals on how to kill people

A right wing extremist covered in neo-Nazi tattoos has been jailed after he was caught with manuals on how to kill people with knives and make homemade bombs.

Nicholas Brock, 53, decorated his bedroom with SS memorabilia and was convicted of three counts of possessing documents useful to a terrorist after a trial.

The specific documents the charges relate to were found organised into a folder labelled ‘army military manuals’ on an external hard drive seized by police in January 2018.

The documents were The Anarchists’ Cookbook version 2000, which contains bomb recipes, a document on knife-fighting techniques and a US military manual containing further instruction on fatal knife attacks.

But a treasure trove of far right material was found at the home Brock shared with his mother in Maidenhead, Berkshire, including literature, weapons, bomb recipes and violent videos.

Sentencing him today, Judge Peter Lodder QC said: “It is clear by the wide range of other material that you are a right wing extremist.

“Your enthusiasm for this repulsive and toxic ideology is demonstrated by the graphic, racist, Islamophobic and white supremacist iconography which you have stored and appear to share with others of similar views.

“Your bedroom was decorated with SS memorabilia and a framed KKK recognition certificate in your own name was hanging on your wall.

“Your degree of devotion is indicated by your decision to cover your upper body and arms with tattoos of symbols associated with neo-Nazis.

“I do not sentence you for your political views, but the extremity of those views informs me about your criminality and the assessment of dangerousness.”

Jurors at Brock’s trial back in March heard police discovered Hitler’s Mein Kampf and books about owning a black slave and the neo-Nazi group Hail Combat 18 in Brock’s collection.

A variety of Second World War knives and daggers bearing Nazi and SS insignias and recipes for homemade bombs annotated with hand-drawn swastikas were found, the court heard.

Analysis of electronic devices found photos of a man “believed to be Brock wearing a balaclava, holding a large firearm and posing in front of a swastika flag in his bedroom”, prosecutors said.

There was also a snap of Brock wearing a ‘Make America Great Again’ cap, associated with Donald Trump ’s 2016 presidential campaign, and standing in front of the Confederate flag.

The Nazi flag, which bore an eagle and swastika, was found on Brock’s wall during the police search, as well as an SS wall plaque, Nazi propaganda poster and a framed Ku Klux Klan certificate of recognition with his name on it.

A Nazi badge was also found on his bedside table.

Videos of “extreme violence” found on devices included footage taken by the 2019 Christchurch mosque shooter Brenton Tarrant as he shot 51 people dead in Newzealand, beheadings and KKK cross burnings.

The jury heard Brock has tattoos of “Nazi figures from the 1930s and 40s”, an SS Totenkopf skull and swastikas on his upper body.

In a police interview, Brock claimed he was a military collector and denied downloading the documents.

He said his friends would sometimes come round to play Playstation games in his bedroom and he would often be out of the room “making a cup of tea or a sandwich”.

Ms Gargitter told the sentencing hearing Brock has a conviction for burglary and theft dating back to when he was 19, and more recently for two counts of racially aggravated harassment in 2017.

He was handed a community order at Berkshire Magistrates’ Court for the harassment after sending racist messages and memes to an ex-partner relating to her mixed-race children – one of whom was just eight-years-old.

In mitigation Edward Butler, defending, said the offences were “documentary”.

He said: “There are cases where those documents are possessed with a particular plan or purpose in mind.

“This is not such a case. These documents were three of a vast quantity of data, much of it macabre and concerning in nature, obviously, but plainly accumulated over many years.”

He said there was “no evidence or suggestion” Brock was a member of any terrorist organisation or “intended to participate in any form of terrorist act”.

Mr Butler said the material was “hoarded” and the idea his client would participate in a knife attack was “fanciful” as he did not have the “physical wherewithal or ability” due to health conditions.

He said Brock was a “vulnerable defendant” who will find prison life “very challenging”.

Judge Lodder said he did not find Brock met the ‘dangerousness’ provisions in the law – which would have meant he was eligible for a longer prison sentence.

He said: “It is argued that although the pre-sentence report finds there is a high risk of serious harm for you, there is a low likelihood of re-offending.

“I’m concerned about what the report correctly identifies as high levels of immersion in ideological extremism but I find your situation is borderline.”

Brock, of Lancaster Road, Maidenhead, was jailed for four years with a licence extension of one year.

He will not be released until he has served at least two thirds of the sentence.

Daily Mirror

Nimmo was a racist with an “Islamophobic mindset who was clearly dangerous”, the court heard

An internet troll who encouraged the murder of Muslims has been jailed for a string of terrorism offences.

John Nimmo also distributed the Anarchist Cookbook – a terrorist manual on how to make explosives.

At Newcastle Crown Court, he admitted seven offences including encouraging terrorism and distributing material likely to stir up religious hatred.

Nimmo, 32, of Osborne Avenue, South Shields, was jailed for 10 years and two months.

He also admitted possessing and disseminating terrorist material, possessing a prohibited firearm and breaching a Criminal Behaviour Order linked to a previous offence.

Nimmo served prison sentences in 2014 and 2017 for sending abuse online aimed at Liverpool Wavertree Labour MP Luciana Berger, among other victims.

‘Racist mindset’

The court heard how he encouraged the murder of Muslims on his Gab social media account.

Judge Robert Adams said: “Nimmo has a racist and Islamophobic mindset – clearly, he’s dangerous”.

Prosecutor Matthew Brook told the court officers from Northumbria Police were tasked to regularly inspect Nimmo’s computer and devices as a result of the Criminal Behaviour Order.

He said Nimmo had posted illegal material in 2019 on social media, including calling Muslims “scum” and saying “a spring clean is in order”.

The hearing heard that another man Ciaran Anderson, 23, approached Dale Elliott, 29, and Nimmo in April 2020 asking whether they could make him a gun.

But after getting cold feet, Anderson rang police claiming to have heard a firearm discharged on Osborne Avenue in South Shields, where Elliott and Nimmo were neighbours.

Police found two homemade “slam guns” and home-made ammunition inside Elliott’s home. They also found a video of Elliott discharging a slam gun and Nimmo holding one.

Weapons were found during searches of the men’s addresses

Anderson admitted conspiracy to transfer a prohibited firearm and was jailed for three years and four months.

Elliott pleaded guilty to possessing a firearm and ammunition without a firearms certificate and was jailed for five years and seven months.

Benjamin Newton, defending, said Nimmo had mental health problems and had been diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder.

He said: “The internet for him is almost like a drug that brings out the worst in him.

“There was no real chance anyone was going to act on his words.”

BBC News

A University of Cambridge maths graduate with an “extreme right-wing mindset” has been jailed for possessing a bomb-making instructional manual.

Oliver Bel was arrested after making racist and anti-Semitic comments online and posting on Facebook that he wanted to “go on a killing spree”.

Police then searched his home and found a copy of the Anarchist Cookbook.

The 24-year-old, of Wilmslow, Cheshire, was jailed for two years at Manchester Crown Court.

Bel declined to give evidence in his trial and was convicted in April of collecting information useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism.

The court was told he ordered the book after he had been in contact with a member of banned far-right group National Action, who he had asked for advice on how to network with other far-right individuals and how to take action.

‘Arrogant young man’

He was reported to authorities in January 2019 while studying at Cambridge, after making anti-Semitic comments and posting about Nazi leader Adolf Hitler in a Facebook group.

He subsequently met with a counter-terrorism officer from the government’s Prevent programme, but was subsequently reported again in July 2019 after posting on the social media site that he wanted “go on a spree”.

Analysis of his phone found other racist and anti-Semitic comments and a statement about how he wanted “to go on a killing spree”.

Police searched his then home in Salford four months later, shortly after anti-fascist group Hope Not Hate published an article which revealed Bel’s beliefs, and found the manual.

At trial, his claim that he had the book for legitimate intellectual interest was rejected by the jury.

Sentencing him, Judge Alan Conrad QC told him the evidence heard had “showed your extreme right-wing mindset”.

He said Bel’s “pronouncements were abhorrent to all right-thinking people, as were the vile images that you kept on your mobile telephone”.

He told Bel that he believed his diagnosis of Asperger’s syndrome was “something upon which you play when it suits you” and said he was an “arrogant young man” who was “blessed with high intelligence [but] whose heart is filled with so much hatred”.

Speaking after sentencing, Hope Not Hate’s Matthew Collins said Bel threatened his organisation “with legal action and with violence” after they exposed him.

“His sentencing today is welcome, but should also be a reminder of the continued growth in the threat of far-right terror,” he added.

BBC News

Here are the Judges statement when he was sentencing Bel.
R v OB 21-May-2021 15-37-06(1)

A Surrey man who ran a number of extreme right wing group chats and shared how to make explosives and firearms online has been convicted.

Michael Nugent, 37, of Ashford, has been convicted of terrorism offences after showing people how to deliver bombs as Amazon packages.

According to Met Police, Nugent used different personas in the chat rooms, and expressed his racist views and hatred of ethnic minorities.

But the investigation by the Met’s Counter Terrorism Command linked the various online accounts to Nugent’s real-world identity and he was arrested and convicted as a result.

Following his arrest on August 19, 2020, he was interviewed over seven days but gave no comment.

Nugent was initially charged with 12 Terrorism Act offences and first appeared in court on August 25, where a further six charges were subsequently added.

On May 13, 2021, Nugent pleaded guilty to five counts of dissemination of terrorist publications and 11 counts of possession of a document containing information likely to be useful to a person preparing or committing an act of terrorism.

He pleaded not guilty to two counts of encouraging terrorism, and these charges were ordered to lie on file.

Commander Richard Smith, who leads the Met’s Counter Terrorism Command, said: “Nugent was an active member of internet chat rooms where he freely shared his abhorrent extremist views with others.

“He sought to influence and encourage other members to commit acts of violence, and passed on manuals detailing how to produce deadly weapons and explosive devices.

“However, he was stopped when he was arrested by counter terrorism officers.

“The police investigation unearthed a huge amount of incriminating evidence which forced Nugent to admit to his offences before trial.

“This is another case which shows how harmful online extremism is.

“That is why it is important that anyone who believes that they have a friend or loved one who has been or is vulnerable to radicalisation seeks help.”

Nugent is due to be sentenced next month on June 23.

Surry Comet

A racist who claimed to be ‘more extreme than Tommy Robinson’ has been jailed after tweeting calling for ‘civil war’.

White supremacist Tobias Powell, 33, sent a series of tweets including showing a photo of his Nazi tattoo and and said: ‘Civil war is the only way… at first it will be a blood bath’.

Portsmouth Crown Court heard one image posted online showed his dog with a paw raised alongside text that said: ‘Sieg heil.’

Drug addict Powell shared ‘extreme right-wing language’ and published ‘anti-Islamist and anti-Semitic posts and retweets,’ prosecutor Amy Packham said.

Counter-terror investigators found a mass of far-right material at his home in Pagham in a February 2019 raid.

Investigators found Powell had set up his Apple ID using the name Adolph Hitler, and played the football game Fifa with ‘Nazi’ on the back of a player’s shirt. He named the player using a racist epithet and ‘killer’.

He also shared tweets by former American president Donald Trump and far-right figures including Nick Griffin, Tommy Robinson and American white supremacist David Lane, Ms Packham said

His posts online also showed support for proscribed far-right group National Action.

An email found by police revealed he claimed to have done ‘10 years of research’ and as a ‘white lad’ had now decided to ‘become active in a movement’ committed to ‘furthering the white race’.

“I have been trying to find a serious and like-minded group of brothers I can join and fight alongside,” he said.

“I have no problem shooting off a kneecap or scalping a radical Imam or removing the penis of one of the (men involved in child abuse in Rotherham).”

Powell, whose barrister suggested he tweeted while in a ‘twisted mind’ high on cocaine and drunk, also posted an image of a tattoo on his right thigh showing the Celtic Cross, Swastika and Iron Cross.

In the tweets posted between July and October in 2018 he also called murdered MP Jo Cox an ‘alleged open traitor and enemy of the people’.

Ms Packham said officers saw Powell had posted online ‘images of the defendant’s dog with his paw raised with ‘sieg heil’ next to it’.

Jailing him for three years, judge Timothy Mousely QC said: “This was vile, offensive, abusive and threatening language which intended by you to incite racial hatred.

“I am quite satisfied that you demonstrated attitudes towards many different ethnic groups, religious groups and people of different sexualities which are abhorrent to most people and you’ve done it over a significant period of time.

“I am also quite satisfied that your views and the ways you’ve expressed them is particularly worrying, and deeply entrenched, and have been for many years.

“They’re far-reaching and they’re obsessive.”

Among the material found was an email titled ‘Brexit Stitch Up’ he wrote to then prime minister Theresa May describing her as a ‘snake’.

He also wrote a letter to MP Nick Gibbs about his concerns over Sharia law.

Powell, of Wythering Close, was found guilty of four charges of using threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour intending thereby to stir up racial hatred.

He denied the charges but was convicted by district judge Tan Ikram at Worthing Magistrates’ Court last month.

At his trial Powell claimed he was not racist and did not intend to stir up racial hatred.

Pierce Power, mitigating, said: ‘He’s certainly no Tommy Robinson, he’s in no position to influence anyone.

“He is what he is, which is a rather pathetic individual who holds unattractive views and nothing more serious than that.”

Detective Chief Superintendent Kath Barnes, head of the south east’s counter-terror policing unit, previously said: “Whilst this was not a terrorism case, the nature of the rhetoric Powell had shared on social media, meant that it was only right for specialist officers from Counter Terrorism Policing to conduct a thorough investigation.”

Bognor Observer

A RACIST lout is once again back behind bars over his latest bout of “nasty” abuse.

Ryan Breach admitted two racist harassment offences in Hove and Worthing.

The 31-year-old, with distinctive facial tattoos, has been in and out of prison, notably for breaching a court order which bans him from entering Brighton city centre.

He had shown a “wilful and persistent” disregard for court orders with “continuous breaches”.

Last month he appeared at Crawley Magistrates’ Court where he admitted two new offences.

The first was on August 15 last year where Breach racially abused Dr Stephan Weber in Hove.

He used abusive, insulting or threatening behaviour likely to cause harassment, alarm or distress.

Breach also admitted racist abuse towards Vinojan Vijayakmur in Worthing on October 10 last year.

Magistrate Gavin Oclee-Brown noted both crimes were “racially aggravated, nasty offences”.

Breach was jailed for a total of eight weeks and was ordered to pay £100 compensation to the victims.

The money will be deducted from his benefits.

Previously, The Argus reported how Breach was jailed in January for being “non-compliant” with orders designed to curb his antisocial behaviour.

Breach appeared in court on January 12, with magistrates sending him back to prison for 12 weeks.

In April 2019 Breach, now of Brighton Road, Selden, popped out of court for a “cigarette” break, and moments later was left unable to even stand up.

A court guard said: “He has been extremely aggressive and threatening. I think he has taken some sort of substance.

“We tried to carry him down the front stairs, he isn’t capable of walking.

“I think he has taken something while being inside here.

“He has been taken somewhere else. We won’t let him into the building.”

He told his defence solicitor Mark Rogers he was going to take a cigarette break.

Mr Rogers told the court that it was “a long cigarette break”.

When it was revealed that his client was not able to stand up, Mr Rogers said he was not aware of any alcohol problems with Breach, and said his client could be “a bit gobby”.

In July 2019, Breach attacked PC Samuel Bettles in the accident and emergency department at the Royal Sussex County Hospital, Brighton.

He also attacked PC Chelsie Maskell and PC James Roberts in police custody, and was jailed for 45 weeks.

In January last year he admitted attacking a woman police officer and breaching the order when he was seen in Surrey Street near the station.

On that occasion he was jailed for 20 weeks.

Brighton Argus