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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

Polish national Robert Adamski, 29, will be sentenced at Woolwich Crown Court on November 28

A man has been found guilty of terrorism and firearm offences after he was caught attempting to use a 3D printer to make a sub-machine gun at his home in east London.

Polish national Robert Adamski, 29, was arrested after counter terrorism officers entered his home on Lee Bridge Road and found the printer in the process of making a component, which was later identified as a part needed for a FCG-9 Mk2 firearm.

During the raid, police also recovered a number of items linked to extreme right-wing ideology. Analysis of Adamski’s phone revealed he had shared extremist documents via a Telegram group.

Commander Dominic Murphy, head of Counter Terrorism Policing London, said: “Our investigation led counter terrorism detectives to find a 3D printer actively in the process of printing out a component part for a semi-automatic firearm.

“The device still needed a number of other parts as well as technical know-how to make it viable. However, the intention to make a lethal weapon was clear.

“This proactive counter terrorism investigation has prevented two potential firearms from falling into the hands of a man who held hateful views towards ethnic minorities in London.

“I want to reassure the public we found no evidence Adamski was planning to use any weapons to target any particular communities or the wider public.

“But this case shows, attempting to create or modify 3D firearms or possessing one, even without the intent to commit harm, is illegal and will bring you to attention of the police and lead to serious criminal consequences.”

Adamski was arrested in the Walthamstow area on July 11.

Counter terrorism officers searched his address and found a number of other parts for the firearm that had already been printed, including a magazine that could hold 25 cartridges.

Detectives found a string of internet searches for 3D-printed guns and how to make them, as well as a payment for a 3D printer which was identified in his credit history in June last year.

Adamski had subsequently saved onto his computer, on July 1, a guide on how to make the FCG-9 Mk2 firearm using a 3D printer.

Adamski was charged with various terrorism and firearms-related offences on July 17.

Following a two-week trial at Woolwich Crown Court, Adamski was found guilty of two counts of possession of a component part of a firearm; possession of a document for terrorist purposes and four counts of of dissemination of terrorist publications.

He will be sentenced at the same court on November 28.

Evening Standard

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

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

A murder-obsessed teenager who spoke of carrying out a mass shooting at an Edinburgh school has been jailed for six years.

A court heard Felix Winter, who is now 18, “idolised” the killers behind the 1999 Columbine High School massacre in the US.

The pupil repeatedly spoke about mounting a similar “Doomsday” attack to the one which claimed the lives of 12 students and a teacher in Colorado.

Winter, who also held racist and pro-Nazi views, admitted two charges at a hearing in February.

The High Court in Glasgow heard the offences – a breach of the peace and a charge under the Terrorism Act – were committed when he was aged 15 and 16 between June 2022 and July 2023.

Shelagh McCall KC, defending, called for a strict alternative to custody as her client was a “vulnerable young person” with mental health issues.

But the court was told Winter had been “radicalised”, having spent more than 1,000 hours in contact with a pro-Nazi online Discord group.

The judge said it appeared Winter had been in contact with the extremist online group for two hours a day for two years.

Lord Arthurson told the court, external the teenager had also discussed with fellow pupils his “visceral, violent and graphically detailed plan” to carry out a massacre.

In a January 2023 journal entry he described his school as a “virus upon this earth” and added he would soon prove that “I am a God”.

Lord Arthurson added: “The whole material available to me indicate that you were progressing towards the brink of perpetrating a mass school shooting, you were radicalised and your statement of intent could not clearer.”

Winter had been referred to the UK-wide Prevent counter terrorism programme four times.

It places public bodies, including schools and the police, under a legal duty to identify people who may turn to extremism, and intervene in their lives before it is too late.

Police Scotland launched an investigation in the summer of 2023 after a social media photo of Winter at school wearing combat gear and carrying an imitation gun caused panic among pupils and parents.

It emerged the clothes and prop gun were issued to him for a video being made in a drama class in which he had been cast as a kidnapper.

But detectives established Winter, of Kirknewton, West Lothian, frequently spoke to other pupils about carrying out a school attack.

He also “exhibited a variety of alarming behaviours” over a 13-month period.

Winter spoke ‘excitedly’ about Columbine

Classmates recalled how the teenager spoke “excitedly and with considerable enthusiasm” when he talked about Columbine and other school shootings.

Witnesses told police he “sympathised” with the Columbine killers, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold.

Harris, 18, and Klebold, 17, both took their own lives in the library of the school after the attack.

Winter was also said to be so fascinated by the mass shooting that he wanted to change his name in an “act of homage” to Klebold.

A female pupil told officers he planned to start on the second floor and “clear it out” before continuing the shooting spree downstairs.

Winter was stopped by police under the Terrorism Act as he returned from holiday with his family on 9 July 2023.

Officers discovered that the schoolboy had a TikTok account which had footage of him wearing black combat clothes as well as a skeleton mask.

When his electronic devices were seized, they were found to contain files on “homemade” firearms and poisons.

The court heard he had 65 videos of Columbine and had added music which appeared to “glamorise” the mass killing.

Accused hoped to make gun with 3D printer

Other pupils told how he had spoken of wanting to carry out attacks on students and teachers using guns, explosives or poison.

He also claimed he would buy a 3D printer to help construct a firearm.

Ahead of sentencing, Winter’s lawyer said that the teenager was vulnerable and a transgender person and that would need to be taken into account.

After the sentencing Assistant Chief Constable Stuart Houston said: “This was an extremely complex and fast-moving investigation, and I want to take this opportunity to pay tribute to the diligence and hard work of the officers who worked tirelessly to gather the evidence and bring the perpetrator to justice.”

The senior officer added the case underlined the advantages of working in partnership as part of the Prevent programme.

He said it “promotes early intervention through tailored, diversionary support”.

James Dalgleish, City of Edinburgh Council’s education convener, said: “While we are unable to comment on individual cases, we want to reassure the public that we have robust safeguarding procedures in place.

“We work closely with partner agencies to ensure the safety and wellbeing of all pupils and staff, and take any matters involving violence extremely seriously.”

BBC News

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