Archive

Uncategorized

A court heard how Alexander Agnew’s messages left Sarwar fearing for his own safety and that of his family

Alexander Agnew narrowly escaped jail after targeting Labour MSP Anas Sarwar in a sickening hate campaign

A twisted racist who sent a series of vile email messages to Labour MSP Anas Sarwar in a sickening hate campaign narrowly escaped jail yesterday.

Alexander Agnew, 53, said in one message: ­“Scotland shall never accept a brown skinned heretic as anything but a rapist culture and a sin against God.”

Another said: “Keep a close eye on your offices,” and added a fire emoji.

Another email said the “Moslem horde was fought” and ended “NOT ONE STEP BACK, Alexander”.

The emails also included a video from far right terror group Nation Action. One was headed: “GET OUT”.

The emails left Sarwar, whose father Mohammad was the UK’s first Muslim MP, fearing for his own safety and that of his family.

Glasgow Sheriff Court heard that Agnew, of Govan, Glasgow, sent eight threatening emails to the former Scottish Labour leadership contender between February 5 and February 24 last year.

At an earlier hearing, he admitted sending racially aggravated abusive messages.

At sentencing yesterday, Campbell Porter, defending, said Agnew had carried out his campaign after drinking alcohol.

Agnew said he could not remember sending most of the emails, including the one with the video attached because of drink.

Sheriff Lindsay Wood called the offences “utterly ­unacceptable” and “aimed at a man doing a good job in public service”.

He said: “These offences are jailable but I am persuaded they can be dealt with in an alternative way.”

The sheriff ordered Agnew to carry out 120 hours of unpaid work, placed him on a 12-month supervision order and imposed a night-time curfew for eight months.

The sheriff warned Agnew: “If you breach that you’ll be back in front of me in two minutes.”

Sarwar, chairman of the Scottish Parliament Cross Party Group on Tackling ­Islamophobia, said: “While it has been a very difficult time for me and my family, it has strengthened my resolve to keep fighting for those who aren’t as ­fortunate as I am to have a voice.

“I want to thank the police and courts for their action and hope it ­encourages victims to report instances of ­anti-Muslim hatred.

“I remain increasingly confident that by working together we can build a Scotland that is free of prejudice and hate.”

Daily Record

Oskar Dunn-Koczorowski, left, and Michal Szewczuk were members of British neo-Nazi group Sonnenkrieg Division which was exposed by the BBC

Two teenage neo-Nazis, who encouraged an attack on Prince Harry for marrying a woman of mixed race, have been jailed for terrorism offences.

Michal Szewczuk, 19, from Leeds, and Oskar Dunn-Koczorowski, 18, from west London, were part of a group called the Sonnenkrieg Division.

An Old Bailey judge said their online propaganda was abhorrent and criminal.

Dunn-Koczorowski was given an 18-month detention and training order. Szewczuk was jailed for just over four years.

The defendants, who appeared by video link from HMP Belmarsh, in south-east London, did not react.

The court heard the teenagers used pseudonyms to run personal accounts on the Gab social media site, as well as sharing control of the Sonnenkrieg Division’s own page, on which they posted self-designed propaganda that encouraged terrorist attacks.

Among other things, the imagery suggested the Duke of Sussex was a “race traitor” who should be shot, glorified the Norwegian mass murderer Anders Breivik, and said white women who date non-white men should be hung.

The material was “uniformly violent and threatening” and “the nature of the violence includes rape and execution”, judge Rebecca Poulet said.

Suggested targets included non-white and Jewish people, and the effect was to overtly encourage lone acts of violence against members of the public, the judge added.

She said the men had promoted both Sonnenkrieg and the American Atomwaffen Division, which were extreme right-wing groups inspired by a book called Siege written by the veteran American neo-Nazi James Mason in the 1980s.


‘Intent on action’

Their ideology is violently racist and anti-Semitic neo-Nazism and its tactics involve political violence through acting alone or small-cell terrorism, she added.

She condemned an “additional feature” of the ideology by referencing a blog run by Szewczuk that encouraged the rape of female adults and babies.

Sonnenkrieg’s activities were exposed last year by a BBC investigation.

Prosecutor Naomi Parsons, opening the case earlier in the hearing, told the court: “This isn’t a keyboard organisation. It is intent on action.”

She read from the group’s mission statement, which declared: “Will you rise up and take the chance or will you sit back and do nothing… Hail victory, and Heil Hitler!”

In April, Szewczuk admitted two counts of encouraging terrorism and five of possessing documents useful to a terrorist.

Dunn-Koczorowski pleaded guilty while still a youth in December to two counts of encouraging terrorism.

The court heard Sonnenkrieg was influenced by the US-based group Atomwaffen Division, which is linked to five murders, and Mason, whose writings “may well represent the most violent, revolutionary and potentially terroristic expression of right-wing extremism current today”.

Sonnenkrieg promoted the idea that people should completely “drop out” of society and engage in a “total attack” on the system, Ms Parsons told the court.

She said Szewczuk also maintained an “extremely violent and aggressively misogynistic” blog that encouraged the rape, torture and murder of women and babies.

“You must become a machine of terror,” Szewczuk had advised his readers.

In online comments, Dunn-Koczorowski suggested that decapitating babies would be acceptable to stop them becoming “leftist politicians” and proclaimed “terror is the best political weapon for nothing drives people harder than a fear of sudden death”.

The pair were arrested the morning after the BBC investigation was broadcast in December.

Detectives found Szewczuk – then a computer science student at the University of Portsmouth – in possession of bomb-making instructions, documents describing how to conduct Islamist terror attacks and a “white resistance” manual.

Hitler imagined as avatar of a god

By Daniel De Simone, BBC home affairs producer

Sonnenkrieg Division, which police say has the most radical ideology on the UK extreme right, is the latest neo-Nazi group to emerge following the proscription of National Action under anti-terror laws three years ago.

Created by a small number of people, Sonnenkrieg used the internet to exaggerate its size and capabilities, with members seeking direct action from those accessing its propaganda.

Terrorism and criminality were encouraged, as was the transgression of what it caricatured as slavish morality, with sexual violence and paedophilia both advocated.

Their bizarre supernatural belief system imagined Hitler to be an avatar of a god, lionised the Moors Murderer Ian Brady and cult leader Charles Manson, and blended violent Satanism, a berserk misogyny, and admiration for radical Islamism.

The aim? To undermine and collapse civilization, which the group deemed a necessary forerunner to the creation of a Nazi warrior society.

BBC News

Oskar Dunn-Koczorowski, left, and Michal Szewczuk were members of British neo-Nazi group Sonnenkrieg Division which was exposed by the BBC

Two teenage neo-Nazis, who encouraged an attack on Prince Harry for marrying a woman of mixed race, have been jailed for terrorism offences.

Michal Szewczuk, 19, from Leeds, and Oskar Dunn-Koczorowski, 18, from west London, were part of a group called the Sonnenkrieg Division.

An Old Bailey judge said their online propaganda was abhorrent and criminal.

Dunn-Koczorowski was given an 18-month Detention and Training Order. Szewczuk was jailed for just over four years.

The defendants, who appeared by video link from HMP Belmarsh, in south-east London, did not react.

The court heard the teenagers used pseudonyms to run personal accounts on the Gab social media site, as well as sharing control of the Sonnenkrieg Division’s own page, on which they posted self-designed propaganda that encouraged terrorist attacks.

Among other things, the imagery suggested the Duke of Sussex was a “race traitor” who should be shot, glorified the Norwegian mass murderer Anders Breivik, and said white women who date non-white men should be hung.

The material was “uniformly violent and threatening” and “the nature of the violence includes rape and execution”, judge Rebecca Poulet said.

Hitler imagined as avatar of a god

By Daniel De Simone, BBC home affairs producer

Sonnenkrieg Division, which police say has the most radical ideology on the UK extreme right, is the latest neo-Nazi group to emerge following the proscription of National Action under anti-terror laws three years ago.

Created by a small number of people, Sonnenkrieg used the internet to exaggerate its size and capabilities, with members seeking direct action from those accessing its propaganda.

Terrorism and criminality were encouraged, as was the transgression of what it caricatured as slavish morality, with sexual violence and paedophilia both advocated.

Their bizarre supernatural belief system imagined Hitler to be an avatar of a god, lionised the Moors Murderer Ian Brady and cult leader Charles Manson, and blended violent Satanism, a berserk misogyny, and admiration for radical Islamism.

The aim? To undermine and collapse civilization, which the group deemed a necessary forerunner to the creation of a Nazi warrior society.

The pair sentenced on Tuesday will have time to reflect whether this was all really such a good idea.

BBC News

A Sheffield gangster who stabbed a man 100 times with a bladed knuckleduster attacked his victim because he wanted his cash, it has been revealed.

Byron Naylor ‘tortured’ his 57-year-old victim by beating and stabbing him in a ‘vicious, evil act of violence’.

Byron Naylor

South Yorkshire Police revealed details of the attack last week after Naylor was jailed for 20 years for causing grievous bodily harm with intent.

He also received a 13 month sentence for possessing an offensive weapon.

Today, the force revealed that the motive for the attack was ‘financial gain’.

It has emerged that when Naylor was homeless last summer, a man – who went on to become his victim – offered him a place to stay.

Naylor left the property when he moved back into his family home, but during the time spent living with his victim he learned that the man was ‘due to come into a large amount of money’.

Detectives believe the motive for the attack was ‘financial gain’.

Naylor, 29, of Glenholme Road, Woodhouse, stabbed his victim more than 100 times in an attack which lasted a number of hours on October 18, last year.

His victim suffered 19 broken ribs, broken fingers, a broken elbow and a fractured eye socket as well as extensive bruising and swelling after he was punched, kicked and stamped on.

He continues to receive hospital treatment more than seven months on.

South Yorkshire Police said Naylor used to be a ‘prominent figure in Sheffield’s organised crime group scene’.

Sheffield Star

A Sheffield gang member who tortured a man in an ordeal that lasted hours has been jailed for more than 21 years.

Byron Naylor

Byron Naylor, aged 29, attacked the man in his own home, beating and stabbing the victim repeatedly with a bladed knuckleduster and leaving him with over 100 stab wounds.

Naylor, formerly of Glenholme Road, Woodhouse was sentenced to 20 years yesterday, June 7, for grievous bodily harm with intent.

He also received a 13-month sentence for possession of an offensive weapon and will remain on Life Licence.

On the evening of October 18 last year, Naylor entered the home of his 57-year-old victim uninvited and carried out the unprovoked attack.

The victim suffered 19 broken ribs, broken fingers, a broken elbow, a fractured left eye socket, extensive bruising and swelling and countless puncture and stab wounds to his entire body.

He continues to receive hospital treatment more than seven months on.

Naylor was previously a prominent figure in Sheffield’s organised crime group scene.

Detective Constable James Hughes, who led the investigation, said: “This incident was a vicious, evil act of violence.

“The victim was essentially tortured in his own home for a number of hours, in which time he was punched, kicked, stamped on and stabbed over 100 times.

“His injuries speak for the brutality Naylor mercilessly inflicted on him.

“I would like to commend the victim’s bravery in coming forward and giving evidence. Without his support, this prosecution would not have been possible.

“The victim, his family and the public can now rest assured that Naylor has been brought to justice and is now behind bars.

“I thoroughly welcome this verdict.”

Sheffield Star

Hearing at the Old Bailey reveals how Tristan Morgan, 52, broke into the rear of the 18th century shul by smashing a window and poured accelerant in

A homeless white nationalist in Devon has admitted setting fire to an historic Exeter synagogue in an arson attack in July last year.

At a hearing at the Old Bailey on Friday, Judge Anthony Leonard QC was told that prosecutors have accepted 52-year old Tristan Morgan’s guilty pleas to a series of charges, as he lifted reporting restrictions.

Morgan, of no fixed abode, admitted arson, encouraging terrorism by publishing a song called ‘White Man’ to a live-streaming website, and collecting information for terrorist purposes in relation to a book called ‘White Resistance Manual.’ He will be sentenced on 1 July.

He was arrested after breaking a window at the rear of the 18th century building – Britain’s third oldest synagogue – before pouring fuel inside and using a match to ignite it. He admitted to recklessly endangering life.

The Community Security Trust (CST) said it had worked closely with Exeter Synagogue and with Devon & Cornwall Police since it happened.

In a statement, the CST said it had been “an appalling attack by somebody who had engaged with far right extremism” which made it “a very disturbing incident”.

It added: “The damage to the synagogue would have been much worse had it not been for the quick thinking and actions of local residents, and we are grateful to the wider community for the support they offered to Exeter Synagogue in the days following this attack.”

Speaking to Jewish News, Brian Nathan, the security officer at the shul, said: “We had a phenomenal and heart-warming response from the Exeter authorities – civil, police, fire. From what could have been a disaster, a lot of good came out.”

The building was saved because two passing bingo workers noticed the flames and put the fire out using nearby fire extinguishers before alerting authorities. They both received awards for their heroism and quick thinking, and were invited to the synagogue’s reopening.

Speaking last year, Superintendent Matthew Lawler said there had been a “really good, positive response from both the public and faith groups in Exeter in support of the Jewish community”.

Jewish News

Renshaw, pictured at a National Action rally, was also jailed for 16 months in 2018 for four counts of grooming adolescent boys

A neo-Nazi who planned to murder Labour MP Rosie Cooper has been jailed for life.

Jack Renshaw, 23, from Skelmersdale, Lancashire, must serve at least 20 years in prison.

A judge at the Old Bailey said Renshaw, who earlier admitted preparing an act of terrorism, wanted to “replicate” the murder of Jo Cox.

Renshaw made a Nazi salute towards supporters as he was led to the cells from the dock.

He pleaded guilty on the first day of his trial to buying a machete to kill the West Lancashire MP and making threats to kill police officer Det Con Victoria Henderson.

A jury twice failed to reach a verdict on charges relating to his membership of banned neo-Nazi group National Action.

Sentencing him, Judge Justice McGowan said Renshaw’s “perverted view of history and current politics” led him to “an attempt to damage our entire system of democracy”.

She said: “You praised the murder of Jo Cox in tweets and posts in June 2017. In some bizarre way you saw this as a commendable act and set out to replicate that behaviour.”

The judge added Renshaw had made “detailed arrangements” and studied Ms Cooper’s itinerary.

The knife Renshaw bought was described by the online seller as offering “19 inches of unprecedented piercing and slashing power at a bargain price”

Giving evidence during his first National Action trial last summer, he said he wanted to murder the MP “to send the state a message”.

He got as far as buying a 19in (48cm) Gladius knife and told members of National Action about his plan during a meeting in a Warrington pub in July 2017.

The plot was foiled by whistleblower and former National Action member, Robbie Mullen, who was secretly passing information to anti-racism charity Hope not Hate, which informed police.

Police arrested Renshaw and found the machete hidden in an airing cupboard at his uncle’s house.

In a victim impact statement, Ms Cooper said it was “like something out of a horror movie”.

Friends and family had encouraged her to stand down from Parliament but she refused because “that would allow tyranny to prevail”.

After the sentencing, Ms Cooper said “justice has been served”.

Jack Renshaw wearing a mask at a National Action rally in Liverpool in 2016

Renshaw was also jailed for 16 months in June 2018 for four counts of grooming adolescent boys.

Det Con Henderson, who was investigating the child sex offences, said she “had sleepless nights” until he was arrested.

“I am not prepared to let Jack Renshaw ruin my everyday life,” she said.

The judge praised the two women and told Renshaw: “You have not defeated them.”

She said he had acted in a polite manner towards Det Con Henderson while planning to kill her in an act of revenge.

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said it presented evidence that persuaded Renshaw to plead guilty, including online research on cutting the jugular artery and how long it would take someone to die from the wound.

Jenny Hopkins, CPS head of counter terror, said: “Jack Renshaw was prepared to act on his white supremacist world view and plotted to kill a Member of Parliament – a plan reminiscent of the abhorrent murder of Jo Cox MP.”

Renshaw was also jailed for three years in 2018 for stirring up racial hatred in two anti-Semitic speeches in 2016.

BBC News

Vaughan Dowd, 55, jailed for 12 months for writing ‘no blacks’ on front door

 Vaughan Dowd. Photograph: Greater Manchester Police/PA

Vaughan Dowd. Photograph: Greater Manchester Police/PA

A man who daubed “no blacks” on the front door of the home of a Salford man and his 10-year-old son has been jailed for 12 months.

A court heard that Brexit and immigration were playing on the mind of Vaughan Dowd, 55, when he vandalised the home of Jackson Yamba, five days after the solicitor and his son moved into their flat in Greater Manchester.

Yamba, 38, said the racist graffiti had left his son, David, afraid to live in his own home after it appeared on three doors in their building on 8 February.

An image of the graffiti, tweeted by Yamba, was shared more than 12,000 times and prompted a wave of support from police, politicians and members of the public.

Manchester crown court heard on Thursday that Dowd, a single man with no children, led a “sad life”, spending his time working then drinking alcohol and watching television.

Brexit and immigration were on his mind at the time, said Dowd’s barrister, Iain Johnstone, who added: “He wishes to apologise to everyone, including the community at large, for the trouble he has caused.”

Judge Alan Conrad QC, jailing Dowd for 12 months, told the defendant his actions were “crude, bigoted and extremely hurtful”.

He added: “This country, in particular this area, the cities of Salford and Manchester, have a long and proud history of diversity and inclusivity. We welcome those who, having a right to come here, do so and when they do, lead decent and productive lives.

“What you did was not welcome in any civilised society. You have experienced anxiety, but then again many people experience anxiety and would not dream of behaving as you did.

“In reality, this was simply an outpouring of racist views held by you for which there is no excuse. It must be made clear that imprisonment will follow offences such as this.”

Superintendent Marcus Noden, of GMP’s Salford district, said: “This was a cowardly and spiteful act, and there is no place for this kind of hatred in Manchester or anywhere else.

“No one should be subjected to this kind of abuse, especially in their own home, and I hope the fact that Dowd must now face the consequences of his actions brings the victim some comfort.

“I also hope this acts as a reminder that Greater Manchester police do not tolerate any form of hate crime, and we will actively pursue those responsible and ensure they are brought to justice.”

The Guardian

A 16-YEAR-OLD Bradford boy has been warned that all sentencing options remain open after he was found guilty of making a potential bomb filled with shrapnel.

A jury was told by prosecutors how the teenager, who cannot be named, had researched bomb-making extensively and constructed a device that, with the addition of gunpowder and a fuse, could have been a “viable CO2 bomb” of the type used “to cause maximum harm and death to civilians”.

He will be sentenced at Leeds Crown Court next month after he was convicted on Thursday of one count of making an explosive substance and three counts of possession of a document likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism.

A jury of four women and eight men found the boy guilty of the offences after three days of deliberation but cleared him of the more serious offence of making an explosive substance with intent.

Judge Geoffrey Marson QC told the teenager: “I’m going to adjourn sentence for the preparation of reports and you’ll be brought back to court for sentence some time in the week beginning June 10.

“All sentencing options remain open.”

The jury was told that the teenager told fellow pupils he was going to “go on a rampage” and “kill many people” just weeks after making the device.

He had also told students a year previously that he was going to carry out a school shooting and had praised Adolf Hitler, Leeds Crown Court heard.

Prosecutors said the boy developed an interest in extremist far-right ideology and his searches on the internet became “progressively dark”, accessing videos and information about murder, torture and mutilation.

Paul Greaney QC, prosecuting, said: “He actually constructed a device that, with the simple addition of gunpowder, such as might have been obtained from fireworks, and a basic fuse would have been a viable CO2 bomb.

“Furthermore, he had loaded that device with shrapnel, such as is commonly used by bomb-makers to cause maximum harm and death to civilians.”

The boy first came to the attention of police aged 13 and was referred to Prevent, the Government’s counter-terrorism strategy, just a year later in 2017, the court heard.

In July 2018, Prevent received information that the boy had told fellow pupils he was going to go on a rampage, aiming to kill many people and then be shot by the police or kill himself, and this led to a search of his home in Bradford, where items were found including two carbon dioxide canisters joined together and an assortment of nails, tacks and panel pins.

The court heard that he searched for and watched videos about the English Defence League, attacks on Muslims, the Columbine High School massacre and murder and mutilation.

Giving evidence in his defence, the boy told the jury that he made extreme comments because he was showing off and “being stupid”.

He said that the device found in his bedroom was a fake bomb he had made to show off to his friends.

The teenager, who stood in the dock with three security guards and wearing a suit, showed no emotion when the jury foreman returned the verdicts and as he was taken down to the cells.

Telegraph & Argus

A ‘well-respected’ member of the NEC staff was starting a five-year jail sentence today after being caught in possession of a stun gun and CS gas spray.

Craig Totney, left, and some of the weapons police seized

Craig Totney, left, and some of the weapons police seized

Craig Totney was also a follower of Blood & Honour, a neo-Nazi music promotion network and political group founded in 1987.

It is banned in some countries but not the UK and is composed of white nationalists with links to Combat 18.

The group organizes white power concerts by Rock Against Communism bands and distributes a magazine of the same name.

Totney, aged 40, was stopped on arrival at Birmingham International Airport from Germany by officials who seized his phone for analysis on May 22 last year, Wolverhampton Crown Court heard.
Halesowen raid

This led to a raid on his home in Bournebrook Crescent, Halesowen, by the West Midlands Counter Terrorism Unit on November 13, said Miss Sophie Murray, prosecuting.

The swoop recovered a CS gas spray and stun gun together with fireworks, a baton, stab vest, machete, three knuckledusters and a Samurai sword.

These were all capable of being used in violent incidents but there was no evidence that they had been, the court was told.

The CS spray and a Taser were found at Totney’s home, while the torch Taser was at Hollingsworth’s home

National Front stickers, a Nazi arm band and right wing magazines were also recovered.

There were pictures of Hitler and right wing memorabilia among the phone data that further revealed Totney had been communicating with 32-year-old Ruth Hollingsworth, a woman he knew socially but one who classed herself as a ‘leftie.’

Among the subjects discussed was his offer of a Taser disguised as a torch, allegedly acquired via the internet from Lithuania.

She said she would not mind having one for her personal protection although she realised it was illegal.

Ruth Hollingsworth was given a suspended prison sentence

Hollingsworth turned down the additional offer of a knuckleduster, it was said.

Police raided her home in Cecil Road, Selly Park, Birmingham, on the same day as Totney’s house was searched and found the weapon still in its box with enough power to issue several charges.

The prosecution accepted she had been persuaded to take it by her co-accused who had tested a Taser on himself, the court heard.

Judge Nicholas Webb said Totney had been a highly regarded employee of the NEC but the evidence indicated he knew what he was doing with the weapons was illegal and a long sentence was required to deter others.

Totney, of previous good character, admitted possession of a CS gas spray and stun gun and transferring a stun gun to Hollingswood, who admitted possession of the weapon.

She received a two-year jail term suspended for two years with 150 hours unpaid work.

Express & Star