A neo-Nazi paedophile who was jailed 17 years ago for a nail bomb plot has received another prison sentence after admitting owning a gunpowder manual.

Martyn Gilleard, 49, of Town Street in Armley, Leeds, pleaded guilty in June to a single count of having material likely to be of use to a terrorist.

At Leeds Crown Court on Monday, he was jailed for seven years and nine months, and will be subject to a five-year Serious Crime Prevention Order plus terrorism notification requirements for 10 years.

Gilleard was jailed for 12 years in 2008 for hatching a nail bomb plot and for having indecent images of children, and was released in 2023.

The gunpowder recipe was found at Gilleard’s home address during a West Yorkshire Police intelligence search on 28 May and was passed to counter-terror police for further investigation.

Det Ch Supt James Dunkerley, head of Counter Terrorism Policing North East, said officers were concerned by the discovery of “the handwritten recipe for black powder […] later verified by experts as potentially viable”.

He said someone having information about explosives manufacture would “always raise serious questions”.

“Gilleard has chosen not to explain or defend the presence of the recipe in his home, instead pleading guilty to possessing information useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism,” he said.

At his trial in 2008 the court heard that Humberside Police searched the Goole home of Gilleard, a former forklift truck driver who was also using the name Martyn Stone.

They found four nail bombs, bladed weapons, bullets, documents about terrorism, and extreme right-wing literature.

Police also discovered about 39,000 indecent images of children, including film and photographs.
BBC News

A Leeds man has been jailed after he kept a handwritten gun powder recipe.

Martyn Paul Gilleard, 49, of Town Street in Armley was jailed for three years and nine months and made the subject of an extended licence period for four years following the conviction. A judge also said he will be subject to a Serious Crime Prevention Order for five years and terrorism notification requirements for ten years.

Gilleard admitted one charge of possessing information of a kind likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism, contrary to Section 58 of the Terrorism Act 2000. The document was recovered from his home address during an intelligence led search by West Yorkshire Police on May 28, this year and passed to Counter Terrorism Policing North East for further investigation.

He entered a guilty plea when he appeared at the Old Bailey in June. Detective Chief Superintendent James Dunkerley, Head of Counter Terrorism Policing North East, said: “Officers were concerned to discover a handwritten recipe for black powder during a search at Gilleard’s home in May; a recipe later verified by experts as potentially viable.

“Possessing information about the manufacture of explosives will always raise serious questions. Gilleard has chosen not to explain or defend the presence of the recipe in his home, instead pleading guilty to possessing information useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism.”

Leeds Live

Three Nazi-worshipping extremists convicted of terror offences have been jailed.

Christopher Ringrose, 34, Marco Pitzettu, 25, and Brogan Stewart, 25, were found guilty in May of planning terrorist attacks on mosques and synagogues.

Stewart, from West Yorkshire, was jailed for 11 years, Ringrose, from Staffordshire, was jailed for 10 years, and Pitzettu, from Derbyshire, will serve eight years.

Sentencing them at Sheffield Crown Court on Friday, Mrs Justice Cutts said she believed they all continued to adhere to their extreme right-wing ideology.

The judge outlined how the online group the trio belonged to was preparing for an attack on an Islamic education centre in Leeds before they were arrested by counter-terror police.

During their trial it emerged the men, who are not believed to have met in the real world before appearing in court, were preparing to use more than 200 weapons they had amassed, including machetes, swords, crossbows and an illegal stun gun.

Ringrose had also 3D-printed most of the components of a semi-automatic firearm.

Prosecutor Jonathan Sandiford KC said the three defendants were “followers of an extreme right-wing Nazi ideology” and styled themselves as an armed military group.

Mr Sandiford said by 2024 they were seeking further recruits and hoping to acquire more deadly weapons.

He said by January and February they were planning their first attack and had identified a target in Leeds, harbouring an “intention to commit acts of extremism which involved killing multiple victims”.

The three men were arrested when security services believed an attack was imminent after undercover officers infiltrated their online group.

A jury had rejected arguments the defendants were fantasists with no intention of carrying out their threats and found all three guilty of a charge of preparing acts of terrorism and charges of collecting information likely to be useful to a person preparing or committing an act of terrorism.

Ringrose was also convicted of manufacturing a prohibited weapon.

Counter-terror police said the self-styled “militant” online group provided an “echo chamber of extreme right-wing views where they shared horrific racial slurs, glorified mass murderers and encouraged violence against anyone deemed an enemy”.

Head of Counter Terrorism Policing North East Det Ch Supt James Dunkerley said they were a group who “espoused vile racist views and advocated for violence, all to support their extreme right-wing mindset”.

“Some of their defence in court was that it was all fantasy or just part of harmless chat, however all three took real-world steps to plan and prepare for carrying out an attack on innocent citizens.”

He said it had been a complex case involving multiple police forces.

Bethan David, head of the Crown Prosecution Service’s Counter Terrorism Division, said the men plotted “violent acts of terrorism”.

“By their own admission, they were inspired by SS tactics and supremacist ideology.

“The prosecution case against the defendants included their disturbing Telegram and Facebook chats as well as acquiring military equipment such as riot shields, body armour and an arsenal of weapons found at their home addresses that were to be used in readiness for a ‘race war’.”

In her sentencing, Mrs Justice Cutts said she believed the defendants would be dangerous on their release from jail and gave all three extended sentences, with additional licence periods of eight years for Stewart and five years each for Ringrose and Pitzettu.

She said the trio’s ideology was “laid bare” in a 374-page dossier of internet activity put before the jury.

“These pages were filled with hate towards black and other non-white races, especially Muslim people and immigrants, with ideas of white supremacy and racial purity together with a belief that there must soon be a race war.”

This was coupled, she said, with the “glorification and admiration of the policies and actions of Hitler and the German Nazi Party, including antisemitism, and of mass killers who had targeted black or Muslim communities”.

The nine-week-long trial heard how the defendants formed an online group called Einsatz 14 in January 2024, with “like-minded extremists” who wanted to “go to war for their chosen cause”.

The jury was shown a short video Stewart posted of himself wearing a German army helmet, a Nazi armband and a skull face covering.

Prosecutors explained how Stewart discussed torturing a Muslim leader using his “information extraction kit” with an undercover officer.

Stewart called himself “Fuhrer” of the Einsatz 14 group and appointed an undercover officer called Blackheart as the “Obergruppenfuhrer”, which the other two defendants also joined.

Potential recruits were sent a vetting form and Stewart also developed a mission statement for the group which said its “basic duties” included to “target mosques, Islamic education centres and other similar locations”.

And he sent Blackheart details of the Islamic education centre on Mexborough Road in Leeds, including a Google Maps image.

The officer asked Stewart for more detailed information about the plan and he replied that they could smash windows or ambush someone, the court heard.

All three men will be subject to a Serious Crime Prevention Order for five years on release and to Terrorism Notification Requirements for 30 years.

BBC News

Three Nazi-worshipping extremists convicted of terror offences were planning the first of a number of “escalating” attacks when they were arrested, a court has heard.

Christopher Ringrose, 34, Marco Pitzettu, 25, and Brogan Stewart, 25, were found guilty in May of planning terrorist attacks on mosques and synagogues.

In the first of a two-day sentencing hearing at Sheffield Crown Court on Thursday, prosecutor Jonathan Sandiford KC said the three defendants “justified, encouraged and glorified serious violence”.

Stewart, from West Yorkshire, Ringrose, from Staffordshire, and Pitzettu, from Derbyshire, will be sentenced on Friday.

In May a jury found them guilty of a charge of preparing acts of terrorism and charges of collecting information likely to be useful to a person preparing or committing an act of terrorism.

Ringrose was also convicted of manufacturing a prohibited weapon.

The court previously heard how the trio, who are not believed to have met in the real world before they appeared together in the dock, idolised Hitler and the Nazis, shared racist slurs and glorified mass murderers.

They were preparing to use more than 200 weapons they had amassed, including machetes, swords, crossbows and an illegal stun gun.

Ringrose had also 3D-printed most of the components of a semi-automatic firearm.

Mr Sandiford said the three defendants were “followers of an extreme right-wing Nazi ideology” and styled themselves as an armed military group.

He said: “They justified, encouraged and glorified serious violence against and killing of persons of other races (who were) effectively seen as inferior and unworthy of human dignity or indeed life.

“On more than one occasion each of the defendants expressed hatred for and desire and willingness to engage in serious violence against people they perceived as enemies of their cause.”

Mr Sandiford said by 2024 they were seeking further recruits and hoping to acquire more deadly weapons.

The court heard that in January and February they were planning their first attack and had identified a target in Leeds, harbouring an “intention to commit acts of extremism which involved killing multiple victims”.

Mr Sandiford told the court Stewart had a leading role and appointed the other two to their roles as “armourers”, encouraging them to make or acquire firearms or explosives.

‘Pure fantasy’

The three men were arrested when security services believed an attack was imminent after undercover officers infiltrated their online group.

Sultana Tafadar KC, mitigating for Stewart, said many of the chats referred to by the prosecution were “pure fantasy”.

She said the defendant had experienced abuse and neglect as a child and had “unprocessed trauma”.

In mitigation for Pitzettu, the court heard he had shown a positive outlook and attitude in prison, while Ringrose was said to have withdrawn from the group before they were arrested.

BBC News

Former Brit school of Performing Arts student Declan George Candiani, 26, was stopped by counter-terrorism police at Stansted airport.

A self-proclaimed satanist actor who claimed he made a pact with a “red-horned devil” has been found guilty of having extreme right-wing material.

Former Brit school of Performing Arts student Declan George Candiani, 26, was stopped by counter-terrorism police at Stansted airport as he attempted to go on holiday to Finland with his girlfriend, on August 13 2024.

On seeing the contents of his phone, officers arrested him and searched the home he shares with his mother in Streatham, south-west London.

An examination of Candiani’s iPhone and iPad revealed a cache of extreme right-wing material included “manifestos” of mass killers and documents advocating the use of serious violence to achieve white supremacy.

Candiani denied wrong-doing, claiming he was mainly interested in satanism and the occult.

On Friday, he was found guilty of two charges of collection of information likely to be useful for terrorism and acquitted of two similar offences.

During the trial, jurors had heard details of the “horrific” material Candiani had on his devices.

In Hater’s Handbook, the leader of the Satanic neo-Nazi group Maniac Murder Cult claimed to have “murdered for white race” and promoted the likes of mass killer Anders Breivik.

A document entitled 21 Silent Techniques of Killing outlined close contact “assassination” with a spike, knife and nunchucks.

In police interview, Candiani claimed he had downloaded material after becoming interested in satanic group Order of Nine Angles (O9A), which has been linked with right-wing extremism.

Giving evidence in court, Candiani described being visited by a “red-horned devil” in his bedroom who told him: “You see me now Declan, you worship me.”

He told jurors he agreed to be his “minion” saying: “I did literally make a pact with the devil.”

His mental health suffered and he went down a “rabbit hole” after his mother was diagnosed with cancer, the court was told.

The defendant told jurors: “At that time I was dealing a lot with my mum and just hated the world and I was very angry and upset and hated everything and everyone.”

Candiani accepted that he had a tattoo on his chest bearing a neo-Nazi symbol 88 – meaning Heil Hitler.

He also admitted applying to join a right-wing extremist group, Active Club but said he later got “cold feet”.

However, Candiani told jurors he was not interested in terror attacks or hurting anyone.

He said he did not remember looking at a lot of the terrorist material saying it must have been downloaded “inadvertently”.

Candiani was assessed by psychiatrists who found he had a “mild personality disorder” and was fit to stand trial, despite his claim to hear voices and see the devil.

Experts agreed the symptoms he described were not psychosis but a manifestation of his own personality.

The jury deliberated for nine hours and 18 minutes to reach its verdicts.

Judge Nigel Lickley KC granted Candiani continued bail ahead of a sentencing hearing on November 28.
Evening Standard

A Neo-Nazi terrorist has been found guilty of threatening a prison officer because he was unhappy about being served a jacket potato for lunch.

Nicholas Brock, who was already serving a prison sentence for having information likely to be useful to a terrorist, threatened to shoot the guard in the back of the head.

His reason? The jacket potato did not meet his dietary requirements, a trial heard.

In a separate incident, the 57-year-old shouted abuse at his probation officer, telling another, ‘I’ll just shoot her myself.’

He was convicted at Oxford Crown Court of making threats to kill prison staff on May 20, 2024, and on October 9, 2024, Counter Terrorism Policing South East said.

Brock also claimed to know people who could reactivate guns to carry out his plot once he was released.

When counter-terror officers raided his Maidenhead home earlier this year, they found an armoury of deactivated firearms, a knuckle duster, swords, knives and a sword disguised as a walking stick

He was sentenced on Tuesday to one year in prison for each count, to run consecutively to each other, police said.

Brock was investigated in 2020 and found to have racist videos, images and video footage from the Christchurch massacre in New Zealand.

He was also a collector of Second World War and Nazi Germany military items, police said.

The Nazi sympathiser collected daggers from the Third Reich, downloaded terrorism manuals and had a framed ‘certificate of recognition’ from the Ku Klux Klan in his own name mounted on the wall.

Brock also had tattoos of the ‘death’s head’ skulls, associated with the paramilitary SS group, as well as swastikas and other symbols from Adolf Hitler’s Germany.

Police raided the house that he shared with his mother in Maidenhead in January 2018, and found a hoard of extremist literature, including a copy of Hitler’s Mein Kampf.

The collection included various racist memes, a video of the 2019 white supremacist attack on two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand and a news clip of the banned terrorist group National Action.

Officers also found photographs of Brock wearing a President Donald Trump Make America Great Again hat, posing in a balaclava while holding firearms, and with others making Nazi salutes.

Head of Counter Terrorism Policing South East DCS Claire Finlay said: ‘Brock’s behaviour has demonstrated that his extreme right-wing mindset did not diminish during his time spent in prison and his aggressive behaviour was escalating as his prison release date approached.

‘It was clear that Brock continued to pose a risk of significant harm towards the victims in this case, as well as towards members of the public from minority backgrounds, and those in positions of authority.’

Metro

A neo-Nazi student who was jailed for a minimum of 40 years for murdering an 82-year-old man and plotting explosions near mosques has died in a high-security jail.

Pavlo Lapshyn, 37, stabbed Mohammed Saleem in Birmingham in April 2013 — five days after arriving in the UK.

Lapshyn later planted three home-made bombs near mosques in the West Midlands in planned racist attacks.

He died today at HMP Wakefield, the Category A jail in West Yorkshire, the Prison Service has confirmed.

A local in the West Midlands told Metro: ‘He absolutely spread fear through the community. And obviously we had to contain it, because what you didn’t want is, what he wanted — to start a race war.

I think maybe he was doing little testers at the little mosque, because the last one that he did was in a mosque in Wolverhampton, and it was, it would have been horrific. It was a nail bomb that detonated all across the car park. But the clocks went back so the Friday prayer time had changed by an hour. It could have been so much worse.

‘There were lots of questions we had that we didn’t get answered because none of it actually made any sense.

‘Because if he was going to commit race wars why would you go to the smallest mosques in the back streets of Birmingham, when he was staying on site opposite one of the biggest mosques in Birmingham?’

Lapshyn, from Dnipropetrovsk in Ukraine, had been living in Birmingham while on a temporary work placement in the city.

He stabbed Mr Saleem three times as the father-of-seven was walking home from prayers at Small Heath mosque on April 29.

He also stamped on the head of his victim, who had 22 grandchildren and was a fortnight away from becoming a grandfather again.

Six weeks later, Lapshyn planted his first explosive device beside gates outside the Aisha mosque in Walsall.

He detonated another seven days later on a roundabout near Wolverhampton Central Mosque, although no one noticed for three weeks.

His final and most dangerous bomb, packed with hundreds of nails, sent debris flying across a car park close to Kanzul Iman Masjid mosque in Tipton on July 12. The attack failed to cause casualties only because morning prayers had been put back an hour, delaying the arrival of up to 1,000 worshippers, the Old Bailey heard.

He was caught after police recognised his Delcam work clothes on CCTV footage. At his home, officers found material for further bombs, including three mobile phones used as detonators, and white supremacist literature.

Lapshyn admitted to police that he had acted alone and ‘wanted to increase racial conflict’. He said he targeted mosques ‘because they are not white and I am white’.

n October 2013, he was sentenced to life in prison with a minimum of 40 years for the murder by a judge at the Old Bailey.

The killer’s tariff included 12 years for offences under the Explosives Substances Act and 12 years for offences under the Terrorism Act.

A Prison Service spokesperson said today: ‘This was an abhorrent crime and our thoughts remain with Mr Saleem’s friends and family.

‘Pavlo Lapshyn died on 23 September 2025 at HMP Wakefield.

‘As with all deaths in custody, the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman will investigate.’

Metro

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