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An East Lothian far right fanatic who downloaded terror manuals on how to make bombs and how to murder people has been jailed.

David Dudgeon collected digital instruction booklets – including the Anarchist Cook Book – describing how to create explosives and how to target major organs in the human body with knives.

Dudgeon, 43, also possessed extreme right wing material on the Holocaust denial conspiracy, anti-semitism, ISIS beheading videos and information on former EDL founder Tommy Robinson.

Among the disturbing collection of right wing material Dudgeon had stored on a hard drive included texts such as Bloody Brazilian Knife Fighting, Prison Killing Techniques and Krav Maga Knife Attacks.

The manuals and videos showed techniques on how to smuggle bombs on planes, the manufacture of black powder explosives and the use of biological weapons.

Dudgeon, from Prestonpans, was caught out with the violent collection when police were contacted by his psychiatrist who had concerns following a conversation between the pair in March this year.

Officers attended at his home with a search warrant there days later and confiscated computer equipment which contained the illegal material.

Dudgeon admitted a charge under the Terrorism Act 2000 when he appeared from custody at Edinburgh Sheriff Court on Tuesday.

Fiscal depute Emma Mitchell told the court unemployed Dudgeon had prescribed anti-psychotic medication at the time of the offending and he had a history of paranoia.

Ms Mitchell said concerns were raised during a consultation between Dudgeon and his psychiatrist on March 26 this year.

The fiscal said the medic believed there were “concerns he posed a threat to public safety” and the police were called in to investigate.

Following a systematic search of his home police discovered a copy of the Anarchist Cook Book hidden away within a file on a hard drive.

Further examination of the equipment showed Dudgeon had also collected scores of other far right violent material including titles Knife Fighting Techniques From Folsom Prison, Russian Knife Combat and Knife, Blade, Bludgeon and Bomb.

The fiscal added Dudgeon’s internet history showed he had visited websites of “an extreme right wing nature” including Christian fundamentalism, ISIS murder videos and sites about Tommy Robinson.

The terror instruction manuals included instructions on how to manufacture explosives, create biological weapons and how to inflict fatal and non-fatal blows using a knife.

Solicitor Paul Haran, defending, said his client had been “off his medication” at the time but was now considered to be stable.

Mr Haran said most of the material was only viewed once with most viewings in July 2015.

Sheriff Michael O’Grady QC deferred sentence to next month for reports and remanded Dudgeon in custody.

Dudgeon pleaded guilty to possessing material useful to committing or preparing an act of terrorism namely a quantity of texts, manuals, booklets, leaflets, video files relating to the production of chemical and biological weapons and techniques for knife fighting.

He also admitted possessing electronic copies of various terror-related documents at his home address between March 6, 2013 and March 29 this year.

Edinburgh 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.

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

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 ‘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

Racist David Shufflebottom has been locked up after he helped organise an anti-Muslim demonstration in a town centre.

The 33-year-old was a member of far-right group Stoke-on-Trent Infidels, which arranged the ‘Britain First’ protest in Burslem.

He was captured on police body-cam footage waving a huge Union Flag and shouting racist and religious abuse – in the presence of children.

Shufflebottom also posted several offensive posts on Facebook encouraging people to attend an English Defence League march in Worcester.

He has now been jailed for 15 months at Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court, as a senior judge branded him ‘highly racist’.

‘The defendant is entrenched as anti-Muslim…’

Prosecutor Richard McConaghy described Shufflebottom as ‘an orchestrator’ of the Britain First march, which took place in October 2017.

He said: “The defendant is entrenched as anti-Muslim, involved in Britain First marches and a member of the online group the Stoke-on-Trent Infidels.

“The defendant attended the Burslem march and to a certain extent was an orchestrator of what took place. He is seen on the footage repeatedly shouting anti-Muslim abuse.”

Shufflebottom, of Wellfield Road, Bentilee, was arrested in February 2018 and interviewed by police. Mr McConaghy said: “He made it clear he was anti-Muslim and directly criticised the Koran.”

In August last year, while he was still on police bail in relation to that incident, he wrote several posts on his own Facebook page in support of an English Defence League march in Worcester.

He made a number of derogatory comments about Islam, and posted a map of Worcester indicating routes those involved could use to get away from the area where the march was planned.

Shufflebottom also posted a ‘rant about Muslim taxi drivers’ on the Stoke-on-Trent Infidels Facebook page.

The father-of-two pleaded guilty to two charges of racially or religiously-aggravated intentional harassment, alarm or distress.

The court heard he had 12 previous convictions for 20 offences including racially aggravated public order offences.

Adrian Harris, mitigating, said Shufflebottam had spent his formative years in the care system mixing with certain people that had ‘skewed his thinking and how he perceived the world’.

Mr Harris said: “Between 2012 and 2017 he committed no offences. He moved out of town, had a settled family and accommodation. The tragedy is they then moved to another area, work was not what it was and things spiralled.

“He is a man with an addictive personality and he then found Facebook. It was not his friend.”

The court heard the defendant had now ‘stepped away’ from these type of protests and social media, and wanted to become a role model for his two children.

”Racism is evil…’

Sentencing Shufflebottom to 15 months in prison, Judge Paul Glenn told him: “I find you are highly racist. You seem to equate all those of Muslim heritage with paedophilia, grooming gangs, Muslim extremism and terrorism. You are unable to keep those views to yourself.

“Racism is evil and there is no doubt whatsoever that these offences are so serious that only immediate custody is appropriate.”

Stoke Sentinel

Unemployed ‘loner’ had photographed himself performing Nazi salutes and spewed bile about ‘degenerates’

Fletcher was convicted of planning a killing spree in Workington

Fletcher was convicted of planning a killing spree in Workington

A white supremacist who plotted a massacre in his Cumbrian hometown has been jailed for nine years.

Shane Fletcher, 21, claimed his plans to kill members of the public at a football match in Workington was merely a fantasy.

But Manchester Crown Court heard he had attempted to buy gas canisters for an explosive van attack, and compiled instructions on making pipe bombs and “improvised napalm”.

Fletcher wrote in a journal that on 4 April 2018 Workington would be obliterated – “everything and everyone will be destroyed. I will show no mercy killing you so called humans, I will be doing it with a smirk on my face.”

Judge Patrick Field QC jailed Fletcher, of Wastwater Avenue, Workington, to nine years for soliciting to murder, over trying to convince his only friend to commit the massacre with him.

Fletcher was also convicted of collecting information useful to a person preparing an act of terrorism.

He must serve at least two thirds of his custodial term and will be subject to an extended licence period of four years if the Parole Board considers him safe for release.

The self-described “loner” voiced his white supremacist beliefs and hatred for the people of Workington, who he blamed for school bullying and his inability to get a job, to a probation officer.

Fletcher was being monitored after a 32-month sentence for barricading himself inside a flat and setting it on fire after a row with his brother about his racist views.

He was referred to the government’s Prevent counter-extremism scheme nine months before he was arrested, after telling the officer he dreamed about “shooting up a mosque”, but refused to engage with the programme.

But he was not detained until March 2018, after he started detailing preparations for an attack at the “Uppies and Downies” – a three-stage football match held on the streets of Workington on and around Easter of each year.

Fletcher spoke of how easy it would be drive a van into people into the crowds and attempted to buy gas canisters, saying the only bar to his massacre was a lack of money and weapons.

A journal found under his sofa contained written instructions on how to make a pipe bomb and improvised napalm, while one entry read: “On the 4th April [2018] Workington will be oblitrated [sic], everything and everyone will be destroyed.”

Prosecutor Jonathan Sandiford told the court that despite Fletcher’s extremist beliefs, his “motive was not terrorism but hatred and a desire for revenge”.

“In part, his hatred was borne of his racist belief that people who were Jewish and not white were responsible for his inability to find work and to make any kind of a meaningful life for himself,” he added.

“However, the main source of Fletcher’s hatred was that he had or felt that he had been bullied throughout his teen years and was looked down on and victimised by the people of Workington where he had grown up.

“This hatred was flamed by his own feelings of worthlessness, inadequacy and inability arising from his inability to find work or make any kind of meaningful life or relationships for himself.”

Fletcher’s mobile phone contained photos of him performing Nazi salutes and there were images of the Ku Klux Klan on his iPad.

In police interviews he described himself as a “big fan of Hitler”, after writing in a journal about his hatred of “degenerates” from different religious and ethnic groups, women and gay people.

The phone also contained images of the Columbine High School killers, who he idolised along with Cumbrian mass shooter Derrick Bird and Charleston church shooter Dylann Roof, lying dead on the ground.

He told his probation worker and police that he had started watching YouTube videos about serial killers and mass shootings since the age of 13 because he “had not gone out much”, and was excited by violence.

Lee Ingham, of the Crown Prosecution Service’s counterterrorism division, said: “Like the mass murderers he admired, Shane Fletcher wanted to achieve notoriety by committing a killing spree of his own.

“The court found this hate-consumed man to be a danger to the public and it is right he has been sentenced today to a lengthy spell in prison.”​

Fletcher unsuccessfully tried to recruit a friend to join him in the attack after they shared “snuff” videos of murders and mass shootings in Facebook messages.

In one, he told his friend that he had considered killing himself but then decided to go on a “massive killing spree” and the pair discussed methods and weapons, before his friend dropped out.

In his journal, Fletcher wrote about his self-loathing and called himself a “waste of space” and “failed human” who had let his mother down.

“I’m a freak basically have no friends have no job and have no future, been bullied most of my teen years,” he wrote. “I wanna end it all quick while taking others with me.”

Fletcher graphically detailed his desire to murder school bullies and make them “bow to my greatness and die”.

After being arrested, Fletcher denied he was planning a massacre and said his comments and writings were only fantasies from a “lonely attention seeker”. But prosecutors said his documented efforts to procure gas canisters proved his intentions were real.

In January last year, he wrote about efforts to buy or steal propane canisters for “bombs”, and had instructions to make viable pipe bombs and homemade napalm.

A diary entry written weeks before the planned atrocity read: “I have started this diary counting down the days to WM [Workington massacre] witch [sic] will be the most exciting day of my life I plan.”

Mr Ingham said: “Fletcher tried to claim his actions were nothing more than a foolish fantasy but the prosecution proved the instructions for the explosives contained in his diary were viable and could have caused catastrophic damage had they ever been acted upon.”

The Independent