Miller Rawcliffe has been jailed

A teenager who called for the killing of black people and said Adolf Hitler was “misrepresented” has been jailed.

Miller Rawcliffe, now 20, had his home searched by police when he was 17, leading to the discovery of terrifying materials.

Leeds Crown Court heard how he was found to have kept a copy of Mein Kampf, drawings of Swastikas and his own written manifesto, as well as terrifying videos showing the killings of black people. Rawcliffe, of Calf Hall Road, Blackburn, who was found guilty after a trial of two counts of disseminating terrorist material and four counts of collecting information likely to be useful to a terrorist, has now been jailed for four years.

His Honour Judge Crowson said he shared right-wing, anti-Semitic and neo-Nazi ideology. The judge said he did not accept Rawcliffe’s claim during his trial that his “views” were “an attempt to be cool and edgy.”

Prosecutor Ashleigh Metcalfe told the court on Thursday: “The prosecution say that he possessed a library of extreme right-wing material. It showed an interest, verging on obsession, of topics like manufacturing explosives. He held racist, neo-Nazi, anti-Semitic ideology. There was one search of his home on the sixth of December 2022, from which a mobile phone and laptop was seized from his bedroom.”

The court heard Rawcliffe provided PINs to both devices – one of which was 1488, which demonstrated an affiliation with right-wing ideology. Ms Metcalfe said: “The exhibits seized continued to show an interest in the Nazi-party ideology.”

The court heard material found included a copy of Mein Kampf, drawings of Swastikas, a piece of paper titled “How to make a powerful pipe bomb,” a notebook filled with handwritten poems and drawings “showing his hatred of those in the black community.”

The prosecutor added: “On the devices there was a series of social media messages on WhatsApp and Discord between him and others. The messages showed his interest in mass shootings and massacres including the Columbine school shooting and the Christchurch massacre…

“On the fourth of November 2022, he told a person how he had watched a video that had, he said, ‘Made me get really f****** racist’ and after, ‘I was pretty much a TND [total n**** death] advocate.'”

The court heard that in one message, Rawcliffe chillingly said: “I’m tempted every day to flip and start planning. If it weren’t for family and the racist girl I’m talking to, I would probably do it.”

Ms Metcalfe said Rawcliffe’s laptop was examined with key word searches, and topics including bombs, explosives and specific terrorists came back.

She added: “The prosecution say he is a person whose interest in the far-right goes beyond someone who has a minor interest in it. This was the start of something more sinister.”

It was said no charges had been made in relation to the material found, and the judge said he was prepared to accept the video was not taken by Rawcliffe.

Mitigating, Robert Fitt said Rawcliffe had no previous convictions. He added: “He was 17-years-old at the time these offences occurred. He’s now 20. You will recall the evidence that he gave to the trial, some of which is reiterated in the pre-sentence report, about him leaving school as a young teenager after the death of his father, and it does appear thereafter he was rather isolated and spent the majority of his time in his bedroom on the internet, and it was through that that he became involved, or rather exposed, to the far right-wing and racist material.

“That occurred, no doubt, at a rather formative age. You will recall some of the evidence, such as the notebooks and manifesto which was written by him when he was 15, or a little bit older than that.”

Speaking about material found on Rawcliffe’s phone while on bail, Mr Fitt said: “None of that material has been the subject of any charge so there it is not really possible to say there has been any escalation of his behaviour.”

The court was told that a doctor had provided a report, telling of Rawcliffe’s autism. Mr Fitt said: “In the words of the doctor, he was suffering from severe depression at the time these offences took place. In my submission, bearing in mind what the doctor has said, these are matters that reduce his general culpability. That, along with his age, means you’re not sentencing an individual who was a mature adult, who was not, I propose, in the best of health at the time these offences were committed.”

It was said by the judge that during his evidence, Rawcliffe claimed he was trying to be “cool” and “edgy” at the time, before claiming George Floyd had not been murdered, but had actually suffered an overdose.

He also said that he believed that Hitler had been “misrepresented” in history.

The judge said: “You expressed hatred of black people and Jews and shared images of the killing of black people.”

Yorkshire Live

He also admitted having terrorist information relating to manifestos of those who went on to commit acts of terror.

A 15-year-old self-proclaimed “Nazi” who amassed a stash of deadly weapons as he discussed whether to “shoot up” his school has been locked up for a year-and-a-half.

The youth, from near Market Drayton in Shropshire, pleaded guilty to having a butterfly knife, a stun gun, a baton and crossbow at his home, last November.

He also admitted having terrorist information relating to manifestos of those who went on to commit acts of terror.

The court heard how the teenager, who has autism, was obsessed with mass attacks and expressed a desire to carry out his own copycat killings, as he acquired the hoard of weapons.

After police had first raided his home, he had chatted online about whether to “shoot up my school” with a modified air pistol, the court was told.

The defendant had also attempted to make “cricket bombs” without success and, while on police bail, download a manual on how to make napalm and a self-loading pistol.

Prosecutor James Bruce told the court on Friday: “It is clear (the boy’s) own words do demonstrate a motivation that is racial and ideological and steeped in far-right ideology.”

Although violence was never far from his mind, the defendant lacked the means to act on his thoughts, Mr Bruce said.

Defence barrister Dominic Thomas said the boy’s violent plans were all “fantasy” and a “kind of self care” to deal with bullying at school and isolation in the pandemic.

He said the defendant’s parents, sitting in court, had struggled to bring him up and had for years asked for help, which was not provided.

On Friday, the boy, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, was sentenced at the Old Bailey to 18 months in custody with a further year on licence.

Judge Rebecca Trowler KC told him: “You plainly had terrorist motivations both racial and ideological.

“While you have stated that you were in effect pretending to want to carry out a violent attack and that you did so to provide some kind of solace and you would never cross that line, I cannot accept that at face value.

“I am satisfied on all the evidence taken together including your own notes, messages and opinions that there was a real risk that you would carry out an attack and cause actual harm.

“However, I am not satisfied that the risk of harm was very likely. There is no evidence of you wanting to take matters any further outside of your home. Indeed you were living an isolated life and dependent on others to get about.”

West Mercia Police first visited the boy’s home early last November and found him “unkempt” and living in an annexe of his parents’ property.

A “large array of weapons” were seized, including four crossbows with bolts, six air weapons, a red Samurai sword, six knives, and a stun gun in a tactical vest bearing a far-right symbol.

An examination of his electronic devices showed he had practised with the Samurai sword and had fired one of the crossbows into a coconut.

Two days after the police raid, the defendant searched the internet for whether a crossbow could “kill a human”.

And within days, his mother bought him a crossbow “pistol” with a 50lb draw weight, the court heard.

When police returned two weeks later, officers seized new weapons, including the crossbow.

In a police interview, the youth explained his computer activity by saying he had an interest in history and had a “black sense of humour”.

He was released on bail on condition he had no unsupervised internet access and did not buy any more weapons.

It was agreed with the local authority that he would move back into his parents’ main house and he was referred to the Prevent deradicalisation programme and Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services.

But when police went back to carry out a bail check on January 22, they found him still living in the annexe and had a new internet device bought for him by his mother.

He had used it to log into chats about crossbows, so-called Islamic State beheading videos, and discussions about school shootings, the court was told.

He was subsequently remanded into Feltham Young Offenders Institution where, in March, officers found and confiscated a homemade weapon.

A further examination of his electronic devices revealed his fascination with weapons, death and killing dated back to 2023.

In a WhatsApp chat with a girl, he spoke of wanting to carry out a mass shooting and die at the end of it, saying “voices” were telling him to kill.

He said: “I wanna kill so badly, watching pathetic maggots die arouses me.”

He wrote that April 20 – Adolf Hitler’s birthday – was to be his “death day”, and said that he would “kill lots of people” with a “taser, knife, and much more”.

He named three schools including on the Isle of Wight, although there was no evidence he had ever been there.

Mr Bruce noted the “death day” the defendant identified came and went without incident.

Police also uncovered a video of the defendant displaying a crossbow and flag.

In the footage, he said: “Embarrassed ‘cus I’m a Nazi, look I’ve got my crossbow for killing Jews, ha ha, I’m a Nazi.”.

Another video showed the defendant practising thrusting a knife, saying: “It’s an illegal knife. My knife is meant for murder, I know how to use it.”

The court heard the defendant had marked his weapons with the names of infamous bombers and gunmen, as well as the words “born to kill”.

Mr Bruce said careful consideration was made by the Crown on whether to charge the defendant with preparation of terrorist acts but it was decided that would not be in the public interest.

Defence barrister Mr Thomas accepted there were “several expressions of intended violence” but said the defendant “never crossed the line” from fantasy into action.

Judge Trowler handed the defendant a three-year criminal behaviour order and imposed a 12-month parenting order to provide his mother and father with training and advice.

West Mercia Police Chief Superintendent Mo Lansdale said parents and carers should speak to children about their online activities and know what material they could be accessing.

She said: “Ultimately, I think what’s really led to this extreme behaviour is the amount of content that he’s been viewing online and what, unfortunately, he’s been able to access.

“The viewing of manifestos, school massacres, is obviously truly shocking, and unfortunately that content is ever-growing, and it’s an ever-evolving threat that we’re having to deal with.”

Evening Standard

Boy, 17, had intended to set fire to Islamic centre in Greenock, Inverclyde, after befriending imam

A teenager who listed Hitler, Mussolini and the Norwegian mass murderer Anders Breivik as his inspirations and who planned a terrorist attack on a mosque has been sentenced to 10 years in custody.

The 17-year-old, who cannot be named because of his age, had intended to set fire to an Islamic centre in Greenock, Inverclyde, after befriending the imam and mapping out the building’s interior on his phone.

The teenager was arrested at the door of the centre in January this year. He was carrying a military-style rucksack that contained a German-manufactured Glock-type air pistol, ammunition, ball bearings, gas cartridges and aerosol cans, according to prosecutors.

He was sentenced at the high court in Glasgow on Thursday after pleading guilty to two terrorism charges, with a further eight years of supervision on licence upon release.

In his sentencing statement, Lord Arthurson said: “What you had in mind was what can properly be characterised as a quite diabolical atrocity involving extreme violence and multiple deaths. You even requested that your attack be livestreamed. Your conduct was only stopped by your arrest, when you were quite literally at the very door of the centre.”

Prosecutors said the teenager, who became radicalised online, began plotting the attack in December 2024 and joined the mosque’s WhatsApp group saying he was “looking for guidance”, later winning the trust of the imam during several visits.

Meanwhile he was boasting of his plans to set the centre on fire on the social medial platform Telegram and later filmed himself wandering the corridors, including footage showing him superimposing a hand carrying a semi-automatic pistol.

Sineidin Corrins, deputy procurator fiscal for specialist casework at the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service, said: “This heinous plan to attack those within his own local community was prepared and driven by racial and religiously motivated hatred, and showed that he not only held neo-Nazi beliefs but was about to act on them to cause pain and suffering”.

The Guardian

The court heard how the boy – who suffers from autism – had become “radicalised” since the age of 13 by social media channels such as TikTok. He believed that white people were in a “war” against other races.

A teenager wanted to carry out a mass murder of Muslims at a mosque, a court has heard.

The 17-year-old boy idolised right-wing killers such as Anders Brevik who slaughtered 77 people in Norway in 2011. The boy spoke online about how white people were at “war” and that he would “die for my land.”

Police intelligence led to officers finding the boy who was armed with weapons outside the Inverclyde Muslim Centre. This included an airgun which he claimed would keep worshippers inside once he had set the building on fire.

The boy was able to plan his attack after he hoodwinked the centre’s Imam into believing that he wanted to become a Muslim. He was trusted at times to be left alone in the building which allowed him to make sketches and videos of the layout.

The boy also went as far as to join in with prayers in a bid to convince others of his lies. The boy appeared today in the dock at the High Court in Glasgow.

He pleaded guilty to a charge under the Terrorism Act and possession of documents likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism. The crimes spanned between December 15 2024 and January 23 2025.

The court heard how the boy – who suffers from autism – had become “radicalised” since the age of 13 by social media channels such as TikTok. He believed that white people were in a “war” against other races such as Jews and he “developed sympathies” with the Nazi party.

The boy created his own “manifesto” on his mobile phone in which he said he would “die for my land.” He listed a number of “inspirations” which included Brevik, Hitler, Benito Mussolini and Irish fascist leader Eion O’Duffy.

The boy also created a list of dislikes which included Keir Starmer, the prophet Mohammed and Jihadi John. The boy initially had plans to carry out a terrorist attack at his school in Inverclyde.

He recorded himself walking through the school in which he stated he planned to “liquidate” one of the offices. The boy also claimed that he would plant bombs under the tables of the school canteen.

He said: “That’ll be funny, watch some reactions, that’ll be hilarious.”

The boy planned to attack the Inverclyde Muslim Centre in December 2024. Prosecutor Greg Farrell said: “This involved the use of aerosols and lighters to set fire to the premises.”

The boy spoke to the centre’s Imam online and was later provided with reading materials. Mr Farrell added: “The boy went as far as to take part in prayer with the congregation of the Islamic Centre.

“He was trusted to be left alone in the centre and he took several videos wandering the corridors of the building. In one video, he enters a room and his own hand enters the shot, shaped like a gun.”

The boy then began searching images of the centre online as well as weapons and combat clothing. He went on to speak to an acquaintance on chatting application Telegram.

Mr Farrell said: “He told the user he would use a deodorant can and a lighter to start a fire and he had a BB gun that people would believe was a real firearm. He also said he would use it to prevent them leaving the building.”

The boy also asked the acquaintance to live stream the burning down of the mosque which would be shared with his manifesto. He meantime tried to get a rifle licence but was unable to as his local club was closed at the time.

The boy prepared a “final” manifesto in which he stated he would attack “tomorrow” when “the mosque will be at its fullest.” On the morning of the planned attack, the boy left his home with a rucksack which concerned his mother.

He messaged friends, stating: “Today, I choose what my life was and will be.”

The boy appeared at the Islamic Centre but was unable to enter as the door was locked. Earlier that morning, the police had received intelligence regarding the boy and waited on him at the Islamic Centre.

He was found by officers to be dressed in black clothing and he carried a camouflage military rucksack. When asked what was in the bag, the boy replied: “Guns, I’ll tell you what’s in the bag so you don’t get hurt. I don’t want to hurt you.”

A German manufactured air pistol – capable of firing BBs – was recovered as well as a magazine which was suitable for the gun. He was also snared with ball bearings, gas cartridges, four cans of aerosol spray and his mobile phone.

The boy was further found to have notepads which contained sketches and right wing symbols such as swastikas. A search of his home recovered a copy of Hitler’s book Mein Kampf, a copy of the Quran, knives, airsoft weapons and ingredients for explosive substances.

A book, named ‘The Anarchist Cookbook’ was also found which was an instruction manual on how to produce weapons and explosives.

Tony Lenehan KC, defending, told the court: “He was a 16-year-old isolated vulnerable young man who had a wholesale world view of what was on the internet rather than personal experience.”

Sentence was deferred pending background reports until next month by Judge Lord Arthurson. The boy will remain remanded in a secure unit meantime.

Glasgow Live

Three members of the same family have today (June 26) been found guilty of creating, performing and distributing neo-Nazi music which encouraged terrorism and incited racial hatred.

Robert Talland, 56, his son Stephen, 36, and daughter Rosie, 34, all from Essex, were found guilty of multiple charges of stirring up racial hatred following a nine-week trial at Woolwich Crown Court. Robert was also found guilty of two offences of encouraging terrorism.

Robert Talland was a leader of the ‘Blood & Honour’ neo-Nazi movement, which organised music festivals and sold merchandise for far right and extreme right wing rock bands. He was also a producer for the music label ‘Rampage Productions’ which distributed CDs for white power music bands. Rosie and Stephen played for the band ‘Embers of an Empire’ which Robert managed.

All three were arrested on October 1, 2020, after a year-long investigation by officers from Counter Terrorism Policing North East.

During the trial, the court heard that Robert Talland had organised a gig at the Corpus Christi Club in Leeds on September 21, 2019, at which ‘Embers of an Empire’ performed songs which called for racist violence. CCTV footage showed people at the gig making Nazi salutes.

Officers searching Robert Talland’s home found hundreds of CDs from white power bands which he was distributing under his record label, as well as Blood & Honour merchandise and banners covered in neo-Nazi imagery. When the music on the CDs was reviewed, it was found to contain lyrics which encouraged acts of extreme right wing terrorism.

Detective Chief Superintendent James Dunkerley, the Head of Counter Terrorism Policing North East, said: “Robert, Stephen and Rosie Talland were part of a network of hatred which had encouraged violence and extreme right wing terrorism across Europe for decades.

“Robert Talland dismissed the group as an ‘old man’s drinking club’, but through the gigs and events they organised, they promoted music which glorified acts of murder to audiences which included young children. In doing so, they encouraged attitudes of hatred, intolerance and violence which have no place in our society.

“The verdicts today come after a lengthy and detailed investigation into the Talland family and their activities. Counter Terrorism Policing is committed to targeting the people who encourage racist violence by bringing them to justice.

“We need the public’s help to do our work. If you hear or see anything that doesn’t feel right, trust your instincts and report it in confidence at gov.uk/ACT.”

CTU

Alfie Coleman denies preparing acts of terrorism.

A neo-Nazi teenager was snared by police and MI5 as he tried to buy a Makarov pistol for a terrorist attack, a court has heard.

Alfie Coleman was detained by armed police in a Morrisons car park moments after he paid £3,500 in exchange for what he thought was a gun and ammunition, the Old Bailey was told.

It was the culmination of a “highly sophisticated operation” in which an undercover officer from MI5 allegedly agreed to sell Coleman weaponry, jurors were told.

Former Tesco worker Coleman had allegedly engaged in online chat with several undercover officers over months as he tried to buy the gun on various encrypted messaging platforms.

Prosecutor Nicholas De La Poer KC said an arrangement was made with the undercover officer for the supply of a Makarov pistol, five magazines and 200 rounds of ammunition.

Coleman was allegedly told they would be in a Land Rover Discovery parked in the Morrisons car park in Stratford, east London. He was aged 19 at the time.

On the morning of September 29 2023, the defendant left £3,500 in cash in the front passenger seat footwell and collected the bag of items from the boot.

But before he had gone 30 yards, he was confronted by armed counter-terrorism police and arrested, the court was told.

Inside the bag he was carrying was what appeared to be a handgun and around 200 rounds of ammunition, jurors heard.

Mr De La Poer said members of the public going about their business shopping at Morrisons had witnessed the “shocking scene” as Coleman was detained by three counter-terrorism officers pointing stun guns.

He said: “There was much shouting at the young man. More men appeared and took hold of the young man who ended up on the ground.”

While planning a gun attack, the defendant had gathered terrorist information, carried out online research, and wrote a “manifesto”, jurors were told.

Mr De La Poer told jurors: “The prosecution’s case is that Mr Coleman believed in an extreme right-wing ideology which included idolising the likes of Thomas Mair, the man who murdered the MP, Jo Cox.”

He believed in the “the supremacy of white people and neo-Nazism” and collected a number of documents to help with his attack planning, the prosecutor said.

He went on: “The prosecution’s case is that Mr Coleman engaged in conversation on encrypted social media platforms such as Wire and Telegram with people whom he thought were sympathetic to his views.

“And it was through such people that Mr Coleman sought to buy firearms. A mission which led him to the Morrison’s carpark in Stratford on the morning of September 29 2023.”

The court heard how the defendant had emailed the far-right white supremacist organisation Patriotic Alternative in July 2021 saying he “would like to start participating in activism”.

In June 2022, the defendant allegedly wrote a plan for a potential terrorist attack identifying his initial target as the “Mayor of London house” and included the postcode of the Lord Mayor of London.

The note also made reference to what appeared to be a plan to put explosive in a cash machine and listed weapons including knives and crossbows, the court was told.

In the event, the plans were abandoned as his thinking developed, jurors heard.

Jurors were told of a file entitled “you can’t see me” containing another attack plan, this time to hijack a plane.

Mr De La Poer said that in the “cold light of day” this plan appeared to be “far-fetched and childish”.

He went on: “The prosecution’s case is that however he presented to the outside world when at work, Mr Coleman was seething with hatred on the inside. As a result he created a list.”

In September 2022, the defendant allegedly compiled a list of vehicle number plates on his phone, with one belonging to a colleague at Tesco labelled “race traitor”.

Jurors heard how he had singled out the white female co-worker who was married to a man of mixed Indian and Seychellois heritage.

At the time, the defendant’s reading included an extreme right-wing text which included a scene entitled “The Day of the Rope” in which “white race traitors” were hanged on a single day.

In the summer of 2023, the defendant allegedly turned his attention to an attack in France and attempted to arrange the purchase of military grade weaponry there.

In a “Diary” document, he allegedly explained he had picked France because it was close to “all out race war” and it was “where I feel most useful and where I can create the biggest impact”.

In the event, Coleman never travelled to France due to practical difficulties, jurors were told.

Two days before he was due to pick up the Makarov and ammunition in Stratford, Coleman allegedly told an online contact: “Just something has gotta be done, how long can we sit here and talk over the internet.”

The same day, Coleman ordered a Gerber Strong Arm knife with a 4.8 inch blade online, the court was told.

Jurors were told that Coleman accepted he had a significant quantity of extreme right-wing material and had pleaded guilty to possessing 10 documents which contain information likely to be useful to terrorists.

The defendant did not dispute writing a text bearing similarities to other “manifestos” written by convicted extreme right-wing terrorists nor that he engaged in chat on Telegram and Wire with people who proclaimed extreme right-wing views and idolised Hitler, jurors heard.

Coleman has also pleaded guilty to attempting to possess both a firearm and ammunition but denied he was preparing for a terrorist attack.

Mr De La Poer said the defendant would claim he did not agree with everything he read and was always changing what he thought.

The defendant had dismissed the manifesto and online chat as a “fantasy” and claimed he wanted a gun and ammunition because he thought that the breakdown of society was coming.

Coleman, now aged 21, of Great Notley in Essex, has denied preparing acts of terrorism and the trial continues.

Evening Standard

A Midlands man has been jailed for more than five years after he joined an online chat supporting plans for a terrorist attack in Leeds.

Claudiu Stefan Cristea, 47, was found guilty by a jury of possessing a terrorist document following a week-long trial at Leicester Crown Court.

Cristea was arrested in February 2024 as part of an operation by officers from Counter Terrorism Policing North East.

The investigation focussed on an extreme right wing online chat group called Einsatz14, in which individuals were suspected of planning a terrorist attack against a target in West Yorkshire.

Cristea shared racist and antisemitic views on the chat.

Three others from Einsatz14 , including Brogan Stewart of Tingley, who led the group and was calling for attacks on mosques, are to be sentenced next month.

When officers searched Cristea’s home in Queens Road, Leicester, they found a copy of “The Anarchist’s Cookbook” on a bookshelf. The book provides instructions on the manufacture of explosives, weapons and drugs.

He was later charged with one offence of collecting information likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism, contrary to Section 58 of the Terrorism Act 2000.

He was jailed for a total of five-and-a-half years.

Detective Chief Superintendent James Dunkerley, head of Counter Terrorism Policing North East, said: “Cristea maintained that his interest in far right ideology was purely academic, but his involvement with the Einsatz14 chat group showed that was not the case.

“He shared racist and antisemitic views in that chat group with individuals who went on to plan an extreme right wing terrorist attack.

“Extremist material, whether it be online or in books, causes harm to people in the real world.

“If you come across material which you suspect may be terrorist or extremist, ACT Early and report it so we can stop the harm it spreads.”

YEP

Martyn Gilleard pleaded guilty to collection of material likely to be of use to a terrorist.

A neo-Nazi paedophile who was locked up 17 years ago after being caught with a stash of nail bombs is facing more jail time after admitting having a gunpowder manual.

White-supremacist Martyn Gilleard, 48, of Armley, Leeds, was jailed in 2008 for 12 years for terrorism offences and having indecent images, and was released in 2023.

On Friday, he appeared at the Old Bailey and pleaded guilty to a single count of collection of material likely to be of use to a terrorist.

The charge said that on or before May 28, the defendant, who also goes by the name Martyn Stone, collected information on the manufacture of explosive black powder, known as gunpowder.

The grey-haired and bearded defendant entered his plea by video-link from Leeds jail.

Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb set a sentencing date at Leeds Crown Court for August 22 and remanded Gilleard into custody.

The former forklift truck driver Gilleard was previously found guilty of engaging in conduct in preparation of terrorist acts and collecting information for terrorist purposes having admitted having indecent images.

Police found four nail bombs, bladed weapons, bullets, documents about terrorism and extreme right-wing literature when they searched his flat for indecent images of children in October 2007.

Officers uncovered significant volumes of extreme right-wing literature and propaganda from far-right group Combat 18, as well as ammunition, weapons and homemade bombs.

A further search by detectives and forensic teams from the Counter Terrorism Unit (CTU) in Leeds uncovered more explosive material, camouflage clothing, balaclavas, a bomb-making manual and outdoor survival guides.

Humberside Police had also discovered around 39,000 indecent images of children including film and photographs.

A search of his workplace found a high-visibility jacket which had been modified with a hand-drawn swastika and Combat 18 lettering, and colleagues told police that he had expressed racist views.

Detectives launched a manhunt when the father of one failed to return home after the original search of his flat.

He was found three days later 300 miles away in Dundee, Tayside.

Gilleard was a member of a number of far-right groups, including the National Front, the British People’s Party and the White Nationalist Party.

In police interviews, he admitted sympathising with white supremacists and accepted he was racist, but said he had become less racist in recent times.

He admitted 10 specimen counts of possessing indecent images of children, and also pleaded guilty to possessing 34 cartridges of ammunition without holding a firearms certificate.

In his trial, Gilleard claimed the nail bombs were not intended for serious violence and said he made them when he was bored after drinking “a couple of cans”.

But the prosecution said he intended to use the weapons and documents found in his flat in terrorist acts to further his political cause.

Evening Standard

A man has appeared in court after posting threatening messages with racist sentiments on social media.

Richard Britton, 31, from Wombourne in Staffordshire, pleaded guilty at Wolverhampton Crown Court on Wednesday to two charges dating back to February and March 2023.

Britton displayed anti-Islamic, racist and anti-immigration sentiments and used threatening language on his social media account, police said. He also shared images of weapons online and encouraged others to do the same.

He will be sentenced on 25 July.

He was charged with one count of publishing written material to stir up racial hatred as well as one count of publishing threatening written material intended to stir up religious or sexual orientation hatred.

Officers said they arrested Britton during a pre-planned operation on 26 April 2023.

When they searched his address, they recovered weapons, fireworks and terrorism material that matched those in his social media posts.

Det Supt Annie Miller, said: “We work hard to stop terrorism. Our absolute priority is to ensure the safety and security of the people who live, work and visit the West Midlands area.”

BBC News