Archive

Tag Archives: jailed

‘Danger’ thug guilty of second attack

By
August 30, 2018
Uncategorized

A VICIOUS thug locked up indefinitely for leaving a man brain damaged in a drunken assault at a Sheffield tram stop has been convicted of another violent attack.

David Sumner, aged 26, was jailed for 12 months after he admitted attacking another man – three months before the assault on family man Alan Smith.

Sumner, of Thornborough Road, Heeley, was jailed indefinitely in March after he was found guilty of attacking 57-year-old Mr Smith at a city tram stop in November 2006.

Mr Smith was left needing 24-hour care after Sumner punched him in a drunken rage when he tried to intervene in a scuffle near the Donetsk Way tramstop.

Sumner was locked up indefinitely for the protection of the public and ordered to serve a minimum term of five years and three months. His minimum term was reduced by appeal judges to four years but he can only be released when he is no longer considered a danger to the public.

Hauled before Sheffield Crown Court again, Sumner admitted affray after he and another man, who has never been caught, confronted a young man on the street and demanded a cigarette. When his girlfriend jumped in front of Sumner, he invited her to fight saying: “Do you want a go?”

The man was pushed to the ground and his rucksack stolen in the attack on Charlotte Road, near St Mary’s Gate in the city centre in August 2006.

Sumner was caught six days later after the couple spotted him in a bar and rang the police.

The court heard he initially denied the attack, claiming he was at home the whole time and putting forward his mother as an alibi.

Jailing Sumner for a year with an extended licence period of two years, Judge Patrick Robertshaw said: “The facts of the present case simply outline that you are indeed a danger. In theory you are eligible for release at the halfway stage but that isn’t going to happen.”

Sheffield Star

From 2007.

Samaritan left brain damaged after attack

By
August 30, 2018
Uncategorized

A VIOLENT thug is behind bars today after attacking a family man in a drunken rage at a Sheffield tram stop, leaving him brain damaged.

Mild-mannered Alan Smith, aged 57, was knocked down with a single punch “like a tree being felled” after he tried to calm an altercation between David Sumner and two other men.

His head hit the ground, he was left in a coma, and he needed brain surgery at the Royal Hallamshire Hospital. He has been left severely brain damaged, may never walk unaided again, will need round-the-clock care for the rest of his life, and may not recognise his family.

Sumner, 25, of Walden Road, Heeley, was given an indeterminate sentence for public protection and must serve at least five years and three months before he is considered for parole.

Sheffield Crown Court heard brothers Alan and Brian Carnall had been on a night out in Sheffield city centre when they caught the last Halfway tram from the City Hall stop on West Street.

Also on the tram was Mr Smith, from Hackenthorpe, who enjoyed a fortnightly Friday night out in the city and had a ‘nodding acquaintance’ with the brothers.

Sumner got on at Castle Square and lit a cigarette. Alan Carnall, 40, pointed out smoking was not allowed on the tram and became annoyed when Sumner replied that he would do as he pleased.

David Webster, prosecuting, said that when Mr Carnall reported Sumner to the conductor, Sumner became ‘hostile and aggressive’ threatening: “I’m well up for a fight. I’m crazy, I’m insane, once I get going, no-one can stop me. They’ve picked the wrong person tonight.”

Sumner had been due to leave the tram at Spring Street, near the Manor, but instead paid an extra fare to confront and fight the Carnalls, said Mr Webster.

They tried to sneak off the tram at Donetsk Way, Hackenthorpe, but Sumner followed and punched Brian Carnall, 43.

Alan Carnall and Sumner then began to grapple. Sumner knocked over Mr Carnall and kicked him in the head.

Mr Webster told the court: “Sumner was then challenged by Mr Smith in terms such as, ‘Why are you doing this? Why cause all this bother?’ Sumner struck him a single yet forceful blow to the jaw which sent him to the ground like a tree being felled.”

As other people rushed to help, Sumner continued to behave aggressively before running away.

Sumner – who at the time of the attack was subject to a community order for battery after trying to strangle his former girlfriend while drunk – handed himself in to police after seeing details of the attack on television news. He claimed he had been physically sick when he realised what he had done.

Paul O’Shea, defending, said Sumner was from a “perfectly decent, law-abiding family”. “He’s had to admit to himself that he’s destroyed another man’s life and he’s desperately ashamed,” he said.

Sentencing Sumner, Judge Alan Goldsack QC told him: “You have ruined Mr Smith’s life and that of his family and no words of mine and no sentence I pass can ever restore normality to them.”

He added: “This was a particularly serious example of late night, alcohol-fuelled, gratuitous violence on an innocent member of the public. If the courts do not seek to deter such behaviour by lengthy custodial sentences, decent people are put off from going into their city at night.”

Det Sgt Joanne Baines, officer in charge of the case, added: “The family are devastated – this has completely shattered their lives. Mr Smith’s injuries and the impact this has had on the family are some of the worst I’ve seen.”DAD-of-two Alan Smith’s wife Elaine said the family are “relieved” that his attacker has been punished – but told The Star of her torment over her husband’s future.

Mrs Smith said: “I think the judge did the best he could. We are just relieved that the case is over and we have got this result.

“But it doesn’t change what we are facing. We still have such an uncertain, devastating future.”

Mrs Smith, from Hackenthorpe, described her husband as a “very quiet, mild-mannered man” in an emotional appeal days after the attack.

She had previously said it was a “tragedy that he has suffered such horrific injuries in coming to someone’s aid”.

Mr Smith was returning home from meeting a friend in Sheffield city centre when the incident happened last November.

A second man was also arrested in connection with the attack but later released without charge.
Sheffield Star.

From 2007.

The vile YouTube videos of a Welshman jailed for saying Muslims should be gassed

By
August 24, 2018
Uncategorized

The evil views of a man who has appeared in court for calling for Muslims to be gassed and put on bonfires are still being watched on video-sharing website YouTube.

The twisted videos posted by white supremacist Jonathan Damian Jennings are still being hosted by the Google-owned website.

In long monologues lasting up to 40 minutes each, the 34-year-old from Brynamman, Carmarthenshire, pours out his bitter, murderous world view.

One strange and chilling video entitled ‘A Royal message from Meghan Markle’ shows a black golliwog doll with Jennings hoarsely saying ‘Harry, darling, I’ve become a trans’.

In others, he fulminates against “feral, inbred, raping” Muslims, lauds Finsbury Park mosque killer Darren Osborne and attacks gay people.

Jennings was jailed for 16 months in Swansea Crown Court last week over messages he posted on the American-based social networking site GAB, which styles itself as a “free speech” platform.

Those posts warned Jews that they would “get the same treatment as Muslims” and called for prominent EU remain campaigner Gina Miller to be hunted down and killed, as well as boasting he would first in line to ‘Jo Cox’ Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn.

But although his Twitter, @BZNTweets, has been taken down, his YouTube channel is still up.

The channel, called MrJDJennings, has been online since July 3, 2009.

It has had 187,366 views in that time, with 423 subscribers. The last video was uploaded five months ago.

Online still there are a few dozen videos featuring Jennings’ ramblings, including a few recordings of his ‘White Genocide Podcast, with one episode called ‘Jo Coxsucker’ with a picture of a noose.

Jennings refers to himself in t videos as ‘BLAZINOAH, Fuhrer of the troll Reich’.

In one video, called ‘Truth is Haram’, he refers to a storyline in Coronation Street where teenager Bethany Platt is raped by a member of a sex ring.

Jennings says in the video: “Why is the leader of the Bethany Platt character rape gang a white man, when in real life it would be a Muslim Pakistani?

“Coronation Street on some level is meant to be a reflection of real life.”

Jonathan Jennings pled guilty to 10 offences

Jonathan Jennings pled guilty to 10 offences

In another podcast, called ‘Darren Osborne Did Nothing Wrong’, Jennings refers to Osborne , who as found guilty of murder and attempted murder after deliberately mowed down people outside two mosques in north London in June last year, as the ‘Saint of Finsbury Park’.

He says it in attacks Muslims and says: “This will coming to a town near you soon. It most probably already has. Get back to the desert, you raping, inbred b******* and climb back on your camels.

“Islam’s ideology doesn’t belong here.”

He also refers to gay people in the UK as the ‘Geystapo’.

Jennings said in the video: “I was on my travels last week when something caught my eye that initially shocked me, and on second site, disturbed me. It was the sight of an LGBT rainbow flag fling outside a police station.

“I had to do a double take when I first saw, I couldn’t believe it. It was the equivalent of seeing a Nazi swastika flag flying outside a mosque or the ISIS flag flying outside Buckingham Palace.

“Homosexuality is wrong. It causes damage not only to those who partake in it, but society as a whole.”

The 34-year-old pleaded guilty to 10 counts of publishing threatening written material to stir up religious hatred, sending an electronic communication conveying a threatening message, and sending an electronic communication of an offensive nature when he appeared at Swansea Crown Court via videolink from prison on July 20.

YouTube have been contacted for comment.

Wales Online

Judge gives multi-year sentences in Aug. 12 garage beating

By
August 23, 2018
Uncategorized

Alex Ramos, charged with malicious wounding in the Aug. 12, 2017, parking garage beating of DeAndre Harris, has been sentenced to six years in prison.

The judge’s sentence was identical to the jury recommendations when Ramos, of Jackson, Georgia, was found guilty in May. He said it was appropriate, given the “evil” nature of Ramos’s actions.

At that trial, Charlottesville Police Detective Declan Hickey said he came across a Facebook post reportedly written by Ramos. The post reads, “We stomped some ass…getting some was f***ing fun.”

Hickey said Ramos seemed remorseful after his arrest.

Jacob S. Goodwin, one of the men on trial Thursday for the Aug. 12, 2017, garage beating of DeAndre Harris, will serve eight years in prison for malicious wounding.

On May 1, the jury had recommended 10 years in prison for Goodwin with the option of some suspended time, a $20,000 fine and empathy training.

A judge on Thursday largely agreed. Goodwin, from Arkansas, was sentenced to 10 years in prison with two years suspended, as well as a $5,000 fine and 20 years of good behavior, which includes no contact with Harris.

As the white supremacist Unite the Right rally fell apart, Harris was chased into the Market Street Parking Garage and beaten as he scrambled on the ground to get away. Hit with sticks, shields and fists, Harris was left with a laceration on his head that required staples to close, a broken wrist and multiple cuts and bruises.

Goodwin, Alex Ramos, Daniel Borden and Tyler Davis were charged with malicious wounding in the attack.

Ramos, Borden and Goodwin all have been found guilty of malicious wounding and will spend several years behind bars. Ramos was recommended a sentence of six years in prison (he is also being sentenced Thursday), while Borden entered an Alford plea — in which he did not admit guilt but said the prosecution had enough evidence to convict him — and faces up to 20 years when he is sentenced in October.

A trial for Davis, 50, who was arrested much later than the other three, has not yet been set. He is set to be arraigned Oct. 4, according to court records. Davis is currently free on bond but confined to his home in Florida.

Harris himself was arrested and charged with assault after video reportedly showed him striking a man with a flashlight outside of the garage where he was beaten.

At his trial in Charlottesville General District Court on March 16, Harris told the court that he thought the man — later identified as Harold Crews — was attacking his friend, Corey Long, with a flagpole. He said he thought he was protecting Long from an unprovoked attack.

Harris said he never tried to hit Crews, but rather was aiming for the flagpole to knock it aside.

Harris was found not guilty of misdemeanor assault.

Daily Progress

KKK Member Gets 4 Years in Prison for Gunshot at Rally

By
August 21, 2018
Uncategorized

A Ku Klux Klan member from Maryland who pleaded no contest to firing a gun at a white nationalist rally last summer in Virginia has been sentenced to four years in prison.

Charlottesville Circuit Court records show Richard Preston was sentenced Tuesday to eight years, with four of those years suspended.

Prosecutors said Preston fired a handgun once toward the ground while standing on a sidewalk crowded with rally-goers and counter protesters after initially pointing the gun at a black man with an improvised flamethrower. No one was struck.

His charge, discharging a firearm within 1,000 feet (300 meters) of a school, carried a penalty of between two and 10 years in prison.

Preston has spoken out publicly as an imperial wizard of the KKK.

US News

Jailed for six years – the far-right supporter who set fire to buildings and daubed swastikas and racist slogans across the city

By
August 21, 2018
Uncategorized

A FAR-right supporter who set fire to Newport’s Masonic Lodge and Bassaleg secondary school, and daubed swastikas and racist slogans on buildings across the city, has been jailed for a total of six years.

Austin Ross, 23, carried out the two arson attacks and his spree of hate-fuelled criminal damage during May this year.

The Riverfront Theatre, Maindee primary school, Gwent Probation Service’s Lower Dock Street offices, and the Bethel Community Church were among his other targets.

Ross, of Romney Close, St Julians, Newport, carried out the attacks, said Judge Jeremy Jenkins, “out of sheer hatred and malice”, based on a “perverted view of race and religion”.

Ross pleaded guilty last month to 15 charges, including two of arson.

He began by sticking a racially offensive poster,, and spray painting a swastika, on a window at the Riverfront Theatre in Newport, between May 2 and May 5.

The poster, along with several others Ross subsequently stuck to buildings in Newport, referenced the neo-Nazi System Resistance Network (SRN).

On May 4, the Bethel Community Church was targeted with posters and swastikas, as was Maindee primary school, where parents removed posters and handed them in to the school.

The school was targeted again on May 8 and May 25, but Ross had in the interim stuck posters and daubed swastikas on a wall at the Newport Centre.

Between May 25-30 he targeted the Gwent Probation Service building on Lower Dock Street with a spray painted far right message.

And on May 28, racist graffiti and a swastika were daubed on a wall at the University of South Wales campus on Usk Way.

Ross’ criminal activities then took an even more sinister turn.

On the night of May 28 he posted a flammable liquid through the letterbox at the Masonic Lodge in Lower Dock Street and set fire to it – an act caught on CCTV – causing £38,000 of damage.

And on the same night he caused around £20,000 of damage to a classroom at Bassaleg School after setting fire to a window blind.

Both buildings were also daubed with racist graffiti.

Police issued CCTV images of a man clad in black clothing, to try to track down the perpetrator.

Acting on a tip-off, they arrested Ross at an address in Grosvenor Road, Bassaleg, on June 5.

The Bassaleg and the Romney Close addresses were searched, and items found included cardboard swastika stencils and neo-Nazi posters.

Defence counsel Harry Baker said several references submitted on behalf of Ross showed “a different side” to him.

But sentencing him, Judge Jenkins was scathing of Ross’ crimes.

“You daubed swastikas and other highly offensive literature on schools, a church, a theatre, a footbridge and other buildings,” he said.

“You deliberately set fire to the Masonic Lodge and Bassaleg secondary school.

“Your actions were not born of some mental disorder, but out of hatred and malice based upon your perverted view of race and religion, and others dissimilar to yourself.

“That, in a civilised society is as abhorrent as it is impossible to comprehend.”

Ross was sentenced to three years in prison on each arson charge, to run consecutively.

He was also sentenced to six months on each of 13 charges of racially aggravated criminal damage. These will run concurrently to the arson sentences.

Speaking after the senetencing hearing, Detective Chief Inspector Nicholas Wilkie, of Gwent Police, said: “The offences committed by Ross in Newport in May of this year were very serious, and understandably resulted in concern and distress throughout our community.

“There is no place for hate crime in Gwent, and we will continue to take a zero tolerance approach to this type of offending.

“We are committed to ensuring our neighbourhoods are welcoming and safe places for everyone, and any crime motivated by racial, sexual, or any other prejudice, will be investigated thoroughly and any offender dealt with robustly.

“We would encourage anyone who has experienced or witnessed an incident or crime that they perceive to be motivated by hostility or prejudice, to report to us directly on 101 or 999, online at http://www.report-it.org or through Victim Support on 0300 30 31 982.”

Cerys Beresford-Evans of the Crown Prosecution Service, said: “Ross spread his racist messages around Newport by causing damage and destruction to buildings.

“Hate crime has no place in a civilised society and has a devastating impact on not only individuals, but on communities.

“The CPS will continue to work with our partners in the criminal justice system to address all forms of hate crime.”

South Wales Argus

Tipu’s killer set for new jail term after claiming to be Tup Tup Palace shooter

By
August 21, 2018
Uncategorized
Michael McDougall.

Michael McDougall.

A killer who murdered a takeaway boss has been found guilty of perverting the course of justice after claiming to be a gunman responsible for a nightclub shooting.

Michael McDougall, 50, previously of Hylton Avenue, Marsden, South Shields and now an inmate of HMP Wakefield, has been found guilty of the charge following a trial at the Old Bailey in London.

The offence relates to a drive-by shooting outside Tup Tup Palace in Newcastle, on June 6, 2015.

A 24-year-old doorman was shot in the arm when a gunman on a motorbike opened fire using a sawn-off shotgun.

McDougall was jailed for a life sentence of 34 years in April 2016 after he was found guilty of shooting Sunderland dad-of-two Tipu Sultan.

The 32-year-old businessman had run the Herbs & Spice Kitchen takeaway in Lake Avenue, Marsden, South Shields, with his family.

McDougall was also found guilty of two charges of possessing a firearm with intent to endanger life following a trial at Newcastle Crown Court.

His co-accused Michael Mullen, 24, of Hawthorne Avenue, Cleadon Park, South Shields, who had taken McDougall to and from the murder scene on the back of a motorbike, was cleared of murder but found guilty of manslaughter.

He was jailed for 12 years.

Just weeks after he was jailed McDougall launched an appeal against his conviction, which was denied by a judge.

Today, McDougall was found guilty of perverting the justice over a false statement made in 2017 as part of the inquiry into the Tup Tup incident.

The court heard the convicted murderer told “a pack of lies” by trying to claim he was the gunman, jurors heard.

He was jointly charged and stood trial alongside John Henry Sayers, 54, of Fossway, Walker, Newcastle, and Michael Dixon, 50, of no fixed address, who were accused of conspiracy to murder and conspiracy to possess a firearm.

Sayers, a well-known hard man, has been cleared of ordering the ride-by shooting of a bouncer because his son had been thrown out of a nightclub, but has been told he still faces a prison term for perverting the course of justice.

The court heard doorman Matthew McCauley was lucky to survive the shooting, which also left two other members of staff injured.

Sayers was accused of ordering Dixon to carry out the shooting after his son was ejected from the club weeks before.

An Old Bailey jury deliberated for more than 30 hours to find Sayers and Dixon, both from Walker in Newcastle, not guilty of conspiracy to murder.

The pair gave audible sighs of relief in the dock as they were cleared of the offence.

Sayers was also acquitted of conspiring to possess a shotgun with intent to endanger life, while Dixon was found guilty by a majority of 11 to one.

Judge Mark Lucraft QC told serving prisoner Dixon he would take into account that he had already been convicted of another offence committed around the same time.

A fourth defendant – Russell Sturman, 26, from Gosforth, Newcastle – hugged his co-accused in the dock after being cleared of assisting an offender.

Before the trial started, there had been an unsuccessful application by the prosecution to try the case without a jury and it was held well away from Sayers’ home turf in the North East.

Sayers had already been cleared of ordering another murder – the doorstep shooting of a man in 2000 – and subsequently cleared of nobbling the Leeds jury in that case.

However, he is a convicted armed robber and tax-evader and said to be a name to be feared on Tyneside.

Sayers’ son had been thrown out of the trendy Tup Tup Palace and was punched by a doorman weeks earlier.

Prosecutor Simon Denison QC said Sayers had “acquired and promoted a reputation”, and he wouldn’t allow his name to be “disrespected”.

Sayers’ reputation “as a man to be feared” meant “doors are opened for his family”, he added.

“Of course, that only lasts as long as the reputation is believed to be justified – which means that if his family is disrespected, violence has to follow.”

The family was given free entry to clubs without having to queue and free access to VIP areas “just to avoid serious trouble”.

The convicted defendants were remanded into custody to be sentenced at the Old Bailey on Friday, September 21.

A Northumbria Police spokesman said: “This case was thoroughly investigated by a team of dedicated detectives.

“The evidence was subjected to careful scrutiny before a decision was taken to charge and it was only right that this evidence was put in front of a jury.

“We respect the decision the jury has made.”

Sunderland Echo

Michael McDougall was convicted of murder in 2016 and details of that murder can be found here

Teenager detained for attempted murder of refugee in Edinburgh

By
August 17, 2018
Uncategorized

Sean Gorman, 18, had pleaded guilty to racially aggravated stabbing of Syrian Shabaz Ali

A teenager has been sentenced to seven years and nine months in detention for the racially aggravated attempted murder of a Syrian refugee.

Sean Gorman, 18, previously pleaded guilty to attacking Shabaz Ali, 25, a refugee. He repeatedly stabbed Ali in the chest and stomach during an argument about noise levels in a privately owned homeless hostel in Edinburgh in May.

Passing sentence at the high court in Edinburgh, the judge, Lord Woolman, told Gorman the attack had caused his victim serious physical and psychological harm.

“He cannot work. He can only take short walks with the aid of a walking stick. He awaits further surgery.”

The incident took place at a ground-floor hostel used by Edinburgh council near the Tollcross area of the city. It is thought Ali intervened in a row involving his female cousin, who was also based at the hostel, and a group of people including Gorman, who was then 17.

Gorman also pleaded guilty to the racially aggravated alarm of a woman, thought to be Ali’s cousin. Ali’s father claimed he could hear his son’s attackers shout: “Why are you still here? Why are you not back in your own country?”

The family came from Kobanî in northern Syria, and had been living in Scotland for five years. At the time of the attack, Ali was working as a barber in the Portobello area of Edinburgh and staying in a hostel as he looked for a new home.

Campaigners with Positive Action in Housing (PAIH), a Glasgow-based charity that launched a fundraising campaign for the family, said at the time of the attack that it had heard numerous reports of refugee families in Midlothian near Edinburgh suffering racist abuse and stone-throwing incidents, as well as instances in other parts of Scotland.

Following the sentencing, DCI Paul Grainger of Police Scotland said: “Gorman used appalling racist language before perpetrating significant violence against the victim, who was left fighting for his life.

“I cannot condemn the circumstances of this case strongly enough. Edinburgh thrives on diversity and Gorman’s actions do not in any way reflect the values of our city.

“Significant support has been shown across the capital for the victim and his family, which is far more representative of the strength of inclusivity across our communities.”

Issuing a statement on behalf of Ali’s father, Sivan, the solicitor Aamer Anwar said: “Shabaz’s father welcomes the significant sentence imposed today by Lord Woolman and the message sent out to violent racists like Sean Gorman.”

Describing Shabaz as “a hardworking, peaceful young man who tried to rebuild his life after Syria”, the statement also repeated allegations that, days before the attack, the victim had told Edinburgh council that he felt unsafe in his temporary accommodation “but his pleas for help were ignored”. The council has insisted it takes the safety of hostel residents “very seriously”.

The Guardian

Sentencing of Peter Morgan for terrorism offences in Edinburgh

By
August 16, 2018
Uncategorized
Peter Morgan had denied the charges

Peter Morgan had denied the charges

A man found in possession of explosive items and extreme right-wing paraphernalia at a flat in Edinburgh has been today (Thursday 16th August 2018) been jailed.

At Edinburgh High Court on Friday 13th July 2018, Peter Morgan was found guilty of two offences under the Terrorism Act 2000 and one offence under the Explosive Substances Act 1883.

Officers were conducting enquiries into the death of a teenage woman, who was found unconscious within a stairwell at a block of flats in Taylor Place in July 2017, when Morgan’s offences were discovered.

As part of officers’ enquiries into the full circumstances surrounding her death, entry was forced to the 35-year-old’s property.

During the search of the flat, officers became aware of extremist material and Police Scotland’s Organised Crime & Counter Terrorism Unit (OCCTU) were immediately called in to investigate, supported by the Explosive Ordnance Disposal.

A number of items, which could be used to construct an explosive device, were seized along with phones and computer equipment.

Following analysis of these, it was established that Morgan had been researching racist content and information on constructing explosives online.

Morgan was arrested and has been remanded in custody since this time. At Edinburgh High Court, he has now been sentenced to 12 years in prison.

Detective Inspector Jackie Gilfillan from OCCTU said: “The sentence handed to Morgan reflects the serious nature of his crimes and the commitment of both Police Scotland and the Crown Office to removing extremist threats.

“While Morgan had not created any viable devices within his home, the intent to construct an object that could cause serious harm and fear within our communities was clear.

“The national Action Counters Terrorism (ACT) campaign recognises the important role the public have to play in preventing terrorism and, whenever such individuals come to our attention, a thorough investigation will be undertaken to bring them to justice.

“While on this occasion we were able to prevent any danger to the public, I’d encourage anyone with concerns about a person viewing extremist or terrorist material to report this to Police Scotland on 101 or to the Anti-Terrorist Hotline on 0800 789 321.”

Police Scotland

Right-wing extremist caught with bomb-making kit jailed

By
August 16, 2018
Uncategorized
Morgan was photographed at a white pride rally in Manchester in 2015

Morgan was photographed at a white pride rally in Manchester in 2015

A right-wing extremist caught with a bomb-making kit in his Edinburgh flat has been sentenced to 12 years in jail.

Explosive powder, fuses and a glass bottle studded with lead shot were found when police raided Peter Morgan’s home in Meadowbank last July.

During his trial a bomb disposal expert told the court the material could have been turned into an explosive device capable of causing horrific injuries.

A Nazi flag, far-right literature and terrorist training manuals were found.

Judge Lord Boyd told the 35-year-old the charges he had been convicted of threatened “the safety of the public, our values as a democracy and strike at the dignity and respect which all members of our community are entitled to expect whatever their race or religion”.

He will spend a further three years under supervision at the end of his 12-year sentence.

Lord Boyd told Morgan at the High Court in Edinburgh: “You have been convicted of two charges under the Terrorism Act and one charge under the Explosives Substances Act 1883.

“You assert your right to freedom of speech. However abhorrent some may find your views, you are entitled to hold them.

“What you are not entitled to do is to act on these views for the purpose of committing or preparing an act of terrorism.

“Of most concern is that you not only possessed the ingredients for the making of an improvised explosive device but you had begun to assemble it.”

The judge said it was clear the jury at Morgan’s earlier trial had rejected his claim during his evidence that he only planned to blow up a frozen turkey and film it for YouTube.

Lord Boyd pointed out that while Morgan had told a social worker who prepared a background report that he would never collect such material again, he did not disavow his political views.

Police also discovered that Morgan had downloaded an international application form to become “a loyal white knight of the Ku Klux Klan”.

He had amassed a collection of neo-Nazi, anti-Muslim and anti-Semitic and racist material at his home.

Peter Morgan had denied the charges

Peter Morgan had denied the charges

Morgan’s trial heard that he was “quite proud” to be part of the Scottish Defence League and travelled with others from the far right group to attend a white pride rally in Manchester in 2015.

He was photographed at the march with his hood up carrying a Scottish saltire flag and holding a “white pride worldwide” poster.

Morgan had earlier denied committing offences under the Terrorism Act and Explosives Substances Act but was found guilty of three offences.

Between April 2012 and July last year at his flat in Taylor Place, in Edinburgh, he possessed items which gave rise to a reasonable suspicion that it was for a purpose “connected with the commission, preparation of instigation of an act of terrorism”.

The court heard emergency services originally attended at the block of flats where he lived on 2 July 2017 after a young woman collapsed and was found to have no pulse.

A resident said that she previously saw the woman at Morgan’s flat and police decided to force entry because of concern for others.

No one was in the flat at the time but officers noted drugs paraphernalia such as needles and scales and the premises were secured. Morgan was later seen nearby.

A large quantity of commercial fireworks were found, some of which had been taken apart.

A dagger bearing the symbol of an eagle mounted on a swastika was recovered under a sofa in the living room.

Defence solicitor advocate Brian Gilfedder said Morgan had an “atrocious” upbringing, had spent time in care homes and foster placements and began abusing drugs at the age of 11.

He told the court: “He is not shy about the political and social views that he said he legitimately holds.”

Fuses were among the things found in Morgan's possessions

Fuses were among the things found in Morgan’s possessions

BBC News