Andrew McIntyre called for the Home Secretary to be hanged after the Southport stabbings
A copy of Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf was discovered inside a taxi driver’s home after his secret online identity was revealed.
Andrew McIntyre published a string of “sickening posts” on messaging app Telegram following the fatal stabbings of six-year-old Bebe King, seven-year-old Elsie Dot Stancombe and nine-year-old Alice Dasilva Aguiar during a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in Southport last summer.
This included calling for the Home Secretary to be hanged and inciting violent action before rioting erupted in the seaside town, Liverpool city centre and Walton. He also told his followers after one such ugly episode: “Well done last night lads. To all you heavy hitters, are you ready for round two?”
Liverpool Crown Court heard yesterday afternoon, Monday, that McIntyre, of Cousins Lane in Rufford, was the administrator of the Telegram channel “Southport Wake Up”, which was set up in the aftermath of the tragic killings. This group was said to have been “the catalyst for and origin of a series of posts concerning these events”, which were widely shared on social media and contained “false rumours” that the attacker was an illegal immigrant and a Muslim.
Arthur Gibson, prosecuting, said of the subsequent disturbances on Merseyside and across the country: “It is the prosecution’s case that many of these seats of disorder were not simply spontaneous or that persons coincidentally simply decided to turn up and take part. It is the crown’s case that others, to a greater or lesser degree, participated in the organisation, encouragement and incitement of such gatherings which resulted in the disorder. One such person is the defendant.”
The court was told that McIntyre set up the Telegram page in question “virtually immediately” after the stabbings, going by the usernames “Bing” and “Stimpy” on the platform. The 39-year-old first shared his channel on another group – “Liverpool People’s Resistance”, described as being “known for encouraging and inciting right wing disorder in Merseyside” – at 6pm on July 29 last year.
The Stimpy account then went on to share details from a Tommy Robinson site concerning the following day’s planned protest at the Southport Islamic Society Mosque on St Luke’s Road via TikTok. Shortly after 8pm, McIntyre wrote on his own channel: “Rise up English lads. 8pm tomorrow, St Luke’s Road, Southport.”
Then, at 9.40pm, he again posted the message “St Luke’s Road, Tuesday the 30th of July, 8pm” alongside seven fire emojis. In the early hours of July 30, he uploaded a picture of a group of masked men alongside the message: “No face, no case. Protect your identity. 8pm, July 30th, St Luke’s Road, Southport.”
At 5pm that day, McIntyre posted what was said to be a “clear threat to the police” by adding: “Message to all. Stand in our way, even if you’re just doing your job, prepare to fall.”
Another user responded to this by saying “we’ll get to the mosque and rip it f***ing down”. Cell siting data subsequently showed that McIntyre’s phone was located within the area of St Luke’s Road at around 7pm, with his car also being placed in the area between 6.45pm and 10.45pm.
Shortly after 5.45pm the following day, he posted on Telegram: “Well done last night lads. To all you heavy hitters, are you ready for round two? Liverpool mosque, West Derby Road, Friday, 8pm. Mass deportations. Ethno state. Death to traitors. We are not asking, we are protesting. We are coming to take what is ours. Rise sons of Europa.”
Mr Gibson then detailed a “further attack on the police” on August 1, which comprised of a picture of a police officer “hugging a Muslim male” alongside the caption “two tiered scum”. Another user by the name of “Southport Stand Up” meanwhile posted: “1. Use burner accounts. No revealing information. Use burner phone, SIM and VPN to sign up.
“2. No face, no case. Mask up. Leave phones at home/in a far away case. Avoid/destroy CCTV cameras.
“3. Nobody talks, nobody walks. The only three pieces of information you must give the police are name, address, date of birth. Everything else is no comment. They will find a way to twist everything you say. Stay tactical, stay agile brothers. Free Europa Army.”
That evening, two posts from the Southport Wake Up channel were shared on the Tommy Robinson page. One included an aerial map of the area around a mosque accompanied by four fire emojis and the message: “Rally point, 8pm, Liverpool.”
Two days later, a further post accompanied by five fire emojis added “mass deportations, Saturday 3rd of August, 7pm, County Road mosque, Liverpool”. McIntyre subsequently shared this message on the Liverpool People’s Resistance page.
Mr Gibson added: “Perhaps one of the more sickening posts which found its way from the Southport Wake Up site was a post which read ‘Justice, Friday 8pm, West Derby Road mosque, Liverpool’. These words overlay a photo of the young lady who had heroically tried to defend the children and the three photos of the children who had been killed.”
In another post from his “Bing” account, which McIntyre shared from the Southport Wake Up site on the Liverpool People’s Resistance channel in the early hours of August 3, he said alongside 10 fire emojis: “To all people who turned out tonight, you are heroes. Massive police presence combined with bussed in trade union activists and a handful of muzz rats.
“We scare the s*** out of the establishment. It took the heaviest police presence Liverpool has ever seen to shout us down, more than any event, any match day. Think about that for a second.
“Targeting the mosque may not have seemed sensible, but it created a reaction and revealed their hand. Along with Sunderland, we have shown what an organised rabble can do.
“No leaders, no organisation. Just white men and women marching the filth down. Fight hard and remember your ancestors are watching. Make them proud. Rise, sons of Europa.”
Shortly after 8pm, the same account was used to share a post from Southport Wake Up on the Tommy Robinson page which consisted of a photograph of an attack on a “stand in Liverpool advertising the Muslim faith” and further fire emojis alongside the caption: “Free Quran stand in Liverpool city centre gets f***ed up. Go on lads.”
McIntyre then added “get down County Road Liverpool people, it’s starting”. A later post showed a picture of a “confrontation between a white male and a black male” alongside the message: “Your ancestors did not die to become a minority. Fight for your future, fight for your kin.”
The Telegram channel was also used to “target solicitors firms and organisations which provided advice and assistance in relation to those seeking to claim asylum”. In one message shared from the Southport Wake Up page onto the Tommy Robinson channel, McIntyre said on August 5: “Wednesday night lads. They won’t stop coming until you tell them. No more immigration. 8pm, mask up. Spread this as far and wide as you can.”
This was accompanied by a “list of immigration advisors around the country”. Sefton Council was also targeted by the group, with a picture of its offices in Bootle being shared on the same date alongside fire emojis and the message: “Mass deportations, Bottle [sic] Strand Council Office. Friday 8pm. They are responsible for letting so many [racial slur] live and work in our area. Burn it f***ing down.”
Hope Not Hate became aware of posts on the channel and subsequently notified Merseyside Police. This led to McIntyre being arrested at around 7.30pm on August 8, when his taxi was stopped by officers on Smithdown Road.
During a search of the car, PCs discovered a knife located underneath the floor of the boot inside the spare tyre. His home was also searched by the force, at which time a copy of Mein Kampf was seized.
The court meanwhile heard of a post from August 1, in which McIntyre shared a YouTube video concerning the Home Secretary Yvette Cooper MP alongside the message “we’re going to hang this woman and her associates”. After another user, “Dreckly”, commented “her way of speaking is so annoying, like a patronising, insipid train announcer”, the “Bing” account was used to respond: “She threatened us lads, now she’s going to taste the rope.”
He was also said to have made posts relating to Hope Not Hate’s chief executive Nick Lowles, including one in which he stated: “Death to Nick Lowles. Any who take his life will be a hero to the cause.”
Mr Gibson said that these and his copy of Hitler’s manifesto were “indicative of his extreme right wing views”, adding: “This supports the proposition that his clear intention in setting up Southport Wake Up was that offences of serious public disorder involving violence and criminal damage were to be carried out as a result of his encouragement and incitement. Furthermore, it is submitted that these actions and words clearly had a racist intent.”
McIntyre, who has no previous convictions, was previously accused of encouraging the murder of Ms Cooper, although this count was subsequently dropped by the prosecution. Julian Nutter, defending, told the court: “His mother and father are in court, horrified that he is in this predicament.
“He is of previous positive good character. He is 39 years of age and has never come to the attention of the police before. Those who have spoken on his behalf describe somebody very different to that which you have heard from the prosecution.”
McIntyre admitted encouraging or assisting an offence and possession of a bladed article in a public place. Appearing via video link to HMP Liverpool wearing a dark grey jumper and sporting short dark hair and a beard, he showed no reaction as he was jailed for seven-and-a-half years.
Sentencing, Judge Neil Flewitt KC said: “In late July and early August 2024, a series of violent disturbances erupted across England following the tragic incident when three young girls were fatally stabbed at a dance class in Southport. Violence fuelled by misinformation and far right sentiment spread to towns and cities across the nation.
“Significant damage was caused and injuries were sustained. Those subjected to violence or threats of violence including police officers whose duty it was to protect the community.
“You were responsible for spready that misinformation. It is clear that, in doing so, you were motivated by racial hatred. I have no doubt that your actions encouraged many people to plan and commit offences of violent disorder and criminal damage.
“Your responsibility spreads for beyond the commission of a single criminal offence. You were, in effect, an active participant in the commission of numerous offences in Merseyside and beyond and over a significant period of time.
“I am told that you do not maintain that you do not hold racist views and acted as you did because you were annoyed with the government for their lack of action. If you had maintained that account, I would have rejected it.
“It is clear beyond doubt that you were motivated by racial hatred. Until you moderate these views, you will pose a high risk of harm to the the public.
“I accept that there is another side to your character. Those who know you well regard you as hard working, kind and caring.”
Merseyside Police’s Detective Inspector Paula Jones added following McIntyre’s sentencing: “The actions of the people who took part in the disorder in Southport had a huge impact on a community still grieving the harrowing events of July 29. McIntyre played a key role in coordinating the group who took to the streets on 30 July, using social media to encourage members of the group to turn up at the heart of the communities in Southport and Liverpool to commit criminal damage.
“The result left dozens of officers injured as bricks, bins and other missiles were thrown at them. Residents’ walls were dismantled to create makeshift missiles and their bins set alight, while windows were smashed and a trail of destruction was left in their wake.
“Of those who took part in the disorder, many of whom will have seen McIntyre’s messages, 163 have been arrested, 121 charged and now 90 have been sentenced to a total of 189 years and 10 months. Like dozens of others before him, I hope McIntyre spends the time he will now have in prison reflecting on his actions during the disorder and the impact it had on communities here in Merseyside.”
Liverpool Echo
Far-Right Criminals 