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Glenrothes man fails to have terrorism sentence cut

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April 8, 2022
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A man who idolised right-wing mass killers and hated Muslims has failed in a bid to have his prison sentence for terrorism offences cut.

Sam Imrie, 24, who admired Christchurch mosque mass murderer Brenton Tarrant, is serving a seven and-a-half year jail term.

He was arrested in July 2019 after posting on social media he was going to attack Fife Islamic Centre, Glenrothes.

Imrie was convicted on two charges of breaching the Terrorism Act.

Following a trial in Edinburgh in October 2021, he was also convicted of wilful fire raising, drink-driving and possessing “extreme” indecent images of children.

The High Court in Edinburgh heard how Imrie had acquired an arsenal of weapons in his home in Glenrothes, Fife. They included a combat knife, nunchucks, an axe, a black-handled knife, a hammer, a rifle scope and a wooden-handled lock knife.

Police also recovered a “manifesto” entitled the “Great Replacement” by far-right terrorist Tarrant, who murdered 51 people in his March 2019 attacks in New Zealand.

They also recovered a manifesto written by Anders Breivik, who killed 77 people in attacks in Norway in 2011.

Nazi ideology

Police also discovered computer equipment containing thousands of images glorifying fa- right terrorism attacks and Nazi ideology.

On Friday, defence solicitor advocate Iain Paterson told appeal judges Lord Matthews and Lord Malcolm their colleague Lord Mulholland had not followed correct sentencing procedures when jailing Imrie.

Mr Paterson said if he had done so, Imrie would have received a lesser sentence.

But the appeal judges concluded that Lord Mulholland, who sentenced him in December last year, had acted correctly.

Lord Matthews said: “We are unable to detect any error in his approach. It cannot be said that the sentence imposed by the judge was excessive.”

‘Childhood trauma’

Mr Paterson said his client had experienced “trauma” in his life and that Lord Mulholland should have taken this into account.

He told the Court of Criminal Appeal: “During his childhood, Mr Imrie experienced a fairly traumatic experience when he was assaulted and lost his teeth and stopped attending school.

“Thereafter, he continued to withdraw from life and became more isolated from his family and his friends. He would stay in his bedroom and spend his days looking at his computer and drinking alcohol.

“His background is one which has arisen from childhood trauma.”

BBC News

Hitler-obsessed Newcastle neo-Nazi had child abuse images as well as right wing terrorist material

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April 8, 2022
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Luke Hunter, of High Callerton, admitted making indecent images of children but claims he has no sexual interest in youngsters

A Hitler-obsessed neo-Nazi had child abuse images alongside right wing terrorist material.

Luke Hunter was jailed previously for terrorism offences after being found with material including Nazi memorabilia, white supremacist texts and recordings of him expressing his deeply disturbing views.

Now it has been revealed police also found sickening indecent images of children during the search. He admitted possessing them although he claims he has no sexual interest in children and was trying to entice, tease or goad those who do.

Newcastle Crown Court heard a warrant was executed at his home at High Callerton, Newcastle, in October 2019, in respect of the terrorism offences. On the Kik platform on his phone, indecent images had been exchanged in a group chat involving 35 people. His computer tower with two hard drives was also found to contain the child abuse images.

In total, his devices contained 22 of the most serious, category A images, 11 category B and 39 category C. Anne Richardson, prosecuting, said: “One girl had material around her neck as she was being sexually abused in distress.”

Hunter pleaded guilty to three counts of making indecent images of children. He was due to be sentenced but the case was adjourned for an assessment to take place of the future risk he poses to children.

Joe Culley, defending, told the court: “He says he was teasing or goading other people in the group. He says he doesn’t have a sexual interest in children.”

Hunter, who has a form of autism spectrum disorder, is currently serving a prison sentence for the terrorism offences. He has a provisional release date of December next year but has a parole hearing in June.

Hunter, 24, had previously admitted seven charges of encouraging terrorism and disseminating terrorist publications and was sentenced in December 2020 to four years and two months prison, with an extended licence of an extra year, at Leeds Crown Court.

We reported at the time how he was arrested as part of an investigation into Right Wing Terrorism, led by Counter Terrorism Policing North East. Searches of Hunter’s home address revealed an obsession with Hitler and neo-Nazism and resulted in the seizure of a large number of white supremacist texts, military training manuals and guides on surveillance, guerrilla warfare, weapons and explosives.

Officers also recovered Nazi memorabilia and a machete from his bedroom. Hunter’s media devices were found to contain thousands of documents, videos and audio files of an extreme right wing nature, in addition to the manifestos of previous mass murderers and recordings of Hunter himself, expressing his deeply disturbing views.

Officers said he was “persistent and prolific” in his efforts to promote right wing terrorism, utilising a variety of platforms and accounts to spread his hateful ideology and encourage others to do the same. He also created content and established his own website through which to disseminate his vile white supremacist, anti-Semitic and homophobic views.

Through this site he avidly promoted violent right wing propaganda, terrorist handbooks and instructional material. Hunter had a significant online reach, particularly among young people, with his Telegram channel alone having more than 1,200 subscribers.

Chronical Live

Preston man encouraged terrorism against Jews and Muslims

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April 8, 2022
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Thomas Leech was jailed after pleading guilty to a number of offences

A neo-Nazi who encouraged far-right terrorism against Jews and Muslims has been sentenced to two years in a young offenders institution.

Thomas Leech, 19, posted a “call to arms” and glorified far-right killers online.

Manchester Crown Court heard that after being arrested by police, he told officers: “I am a Nazi.”

Leech, of Preston, pleaded guilty to encouraging acts of terrorism and stirring up religious or racial hatred.

The court was told Leech believed conspiracy theories that Jewish people were planning the “Great Replacement” of the white race through extinction and the “Islamicisation” of Europe.

Joe Allman, prosecuting, said he first came to police attention when he claimed to be planning a shooting at his school in Wetherby, West Yorkshire, in January 2017.

He told police it was a “prank” and received a caution and some intervention.

Leech was referred to Prevent, the Government’s deradicalisation programme, but he “dropped off the radar” when he moved to Gillingham, Kent, in June 2017.

After moving to Preston in 2020, posts by him on an online platform were found by the Community Security Trust, a charity involved in security for Jewish communities.

Mr Allman said: “The cumulative effect of the posts is a call to arms by Mr Leech, inciting others who shared his world view to commit mass murder.”

‘Deeply disturbing’

Leech posted that the Holocaust was a hoax and Jews controlled the world, as well as posting Third Reich imagery and anti-Muslim content, the court heard.

Police found he had posted about Anders Breivik, who murdered 69 youngsters in Norway, and Brenton Tarrant, who murdered 51 people at mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, in 2019.

The men along with Dylann Roof, a white supremacist who murdered nine African-Americans at a church in Charleston in the US in 2015, were talked of in terms of martyrs to the white race, the court heard.

The court heard there was no evidence Leech’s posts had inspired anyone to commit an offence.

Rachel White, mitigating, said some offences were committed when Leech was aged only 17 or 18 and that he suffered from autism, agoraphobia and bullying, which kept him out of school.

She said he rarely left his home, spending his life online and was “effectively became a keyboard warrior”.

But Judge Alan Conrad QC branded Leech’s action as “deeply disturbing”.

Leech, of Derby Road, admitted three counts of encouraging acts of terrorism and two counts of stirring up religious or racial hatred, between March and November 2020.

He also admitted possessing indecent images of children.

BBC News

Far-right cell found guilty of terror offences

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March 29, 2022
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Liam Hall, Stacey Salmon, Daniel Wright and Samuel Whibley had denied multiple offences

Four members of a “fascist” cell who made pistol parts on a 3D printer and celebrated right-wing attacks have been convicted of a range of offences.

Daniel Wright, 29, Liam Hall, 31, and Stacey Salmon, 29, all from Keighley, West Yorkshire, and Samuel Whibley, 29, from Menai Bridge, Anglesey, had denied the charges.

During the trial prosecutors said the four “celebrated racist violence and killing” through online messages.

They will be sentenced at a later date.

A two-month trial, which was moved to Doncaster Crown Court due to problems at Sheffield Crown Court, heard the defendants used online messaging app Telegram to exchange terror manuals, share racist ideology and post videos of atrocities.

Prosecutor Annabel Darlow QC said the group described killers such as Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh and Anders Breivik, who murdered 77 people in Norway, as “saints”.

She told jurors the group also had an “active interest in the manufacture of explosives and weaponry”.

Daniel Wright, of Whinfield Avenue, Keighley, was found guilty of disseminating a terrorist publication, possessing articles for terrorist purposes, and the collection of information contrary to the Terrorism Act.

He was also found guilty of possessing and manufacturing a firearm.
3D printed gun

Counter terrorism recovered a partially constructed 3D printed gun from Hall and Salmon’s home

Liam Hall, of Hill Top Walk, Keighley, was cleared of possessing articles for terrorist purposes, but found guilty of possessing and manufacturing a firearm.

Hall’s partner Stacey Salmon, of the same address, was also cleared of possessing articles for terrorist purposes, but convicted of possessing a firearm.

Samuel Whibley, of Derwen Deg, Menai Bridge, Anglesey, was found guilty of the encouragement of terrorism and disseminating a terrorist publication.

Det Ch Supt Martin Snowden, head of counter terrorism policing north east, said unknown to the four defendants an undercover officer had infiltrated their online chat.

“None of their security measures were enough to maintain their anonymity, or ultimately prevent their arrest and prosecution,” he said.

He said the group had a “deeply entrenched extreme right-win mindset”.

“The vitriolic hatred expressed by these defendants went far beyond an intolerance of others,” he said.

“While the group had no clear target at the time of their arrest, they pushed relentlessly for violent action in pursuit of their objectives.

The judge, Mr Justice Spencer said he hoped to sentence the four before the end of May, however reports needed to be prepared about Wright and Whibley to help him assess the danger they presented.

“There needs to be a lot of thought given over to the sentences in this case,” he said.

BBC News

‘Fascist cell’ convicted of terror and firearm offences after trying to make 3D-printed gun

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March 29, 2022
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Two of the defendants were members of an online group where terror manuals and weapons guides were shared among neo-Nazis

Members of a “fascist cell” have been convicted of terror and firearms offences after police discovered they were trying to manufacture 3D-printed guns.

Samuel Whibley, 29, Daniel Wright, 29, Liam Hall, 31, and his girlfriend Stacey Salmon, 29, were convicted of a total of 15 offences on Thursday.

A trial at Sheffield Crown Court heard that in the home Hall and Salmon shared with their children, officers found an improvised explosive device, homemade explosive substances, chemicals and parts of a 3D-printed handgun.

The unfinished “improvised firearm” found in the kitchen was found to have Hall, Salmon and Wright’s DNA on it.

The trio lived in Keighley, while Whibley is from Anglesey in Wales and had not met them in person, the court heard.

He had set up a neo-Nazi channel on the encrypted Telegram app, and linked private chat, which Wright joined.

Prosecutor Annabel Darlow QC said the channel and chat “encouraged readers to take violent action”.

“It wasn’t about academic interest or theorising, this was about finding the ways and means to copy those responsible for the worst extreme right wing atrocities,” she told jurors.

“These four defendants were members of an extreme fascist and terroristic cell during the first four months of 2021. They embraced extreme right-wing propaganda and celebrated racist violence and killing.”

The defendants had denied all charges. Whibley, of Menai Bridge in Wales, was convicted of two counts of encouraging terrorism and two counts of “providing a service” where people could obtain terrorist publications through the Oaken Hearth Telegram channel and a linked chat group.

He was also convicted of four counts of disseminating terrorist publications including bomb-making instructions, “killing techniques” and a manual on making a 3D-printed firearm.

Wright, of Braithwaite in Keighley, was convicted of one count of disseminating a terrorist pulbication and three counts of collecting information useful to a terrorist.

He and Hall, also of Keighley, were jointly convicted of manufacturing a prohibited firearm.

They are also charged, alongside Ms Salmon, of possessing a prohibited 3D-printed firearm. They were additionally convicted of illegally possessing that firearm, alongside Salmon.

She and her partner Hall were acquitted of possessing the unfinished weapon for a terrorist purpose, but Wright was convicted on the same charge.

The Independent.

Leeds teenager admits extreme right-wing social media posts

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March 15, 2022
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A 16-year-old boy has pleaded guilty to terrorism offences after a member of the public reported his extreme right-wing posts on social media.

The teenager, from Leeds, was arrested in May 2021 and was later charged with disseminating a terrorist publication and possessing terrorist material.

He was sentenced at Leeds Youth Court on Monday to a 12-month referral order for each offence, which will run concurrently.

The boy cannot be named due to his age.

The order means he will be referred to a panel consisting of two trained community volunteers and a member of the youth offending team in a bid to address his offending behaviour.

The teenager was also ordered by the court to pay costs and was given a criminal behaviour order that will last until the day before his 18th birthday.

Det Ch Supt Martin Snowden, Head of Counter Terrorism Policing North East, said he was “immensely grateful” the offence had been reported to police.

“We would always encourage members of the public to report material of concern so it can be removed and appropriate action taken,” he said.

“We have seen before how online extremism can fuel hate and influence others, and that is true of this case.”

BBC News

Nelson far-right fanatic who had terror handbook jailed

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February 19, 2022
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Conrad Howarth pleaded guilty to gathering terrorist material

A man who possessed a “terrorist handbook” and had an “obsession” with far-right ideologies has been jailed.

Conrad Howarth, from Nelson in Lancashire, pleaded guilty to gathering terrorist material and also possessing extreme pornography.

The 41-year-old was jailed at Manchester Crown Court for four-and-a-half years.

Counter-terror officer Det Ch Insp Clare Devlin said right-wing terrorism “will not be tolerated”.

“The evidence seized in this investigation was concerning and demonstrated Howarth’s obsession with far right wing ideologies,” he said.

Howarth, of Pinfold Place, admitted a charge of collecting, recording, possessing or viewing information likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism.

Police said they found the extreme pornography on a laptop when searching his home.

BBC News

Teenage neo-Nazi jailed for sending out bomb manual disguised as Minecraft handbook

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February 6, 2022
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A Neo-Nazi teenager who sent a bomb manual disguised as a Minecraft video game guide to fellow extremists has been jailed for three-and-a-half years.

Connor Burke, 19, had books on Nazis and Hitler’s Third Reich in his bedroom, an SS dagger, racist and anti-Semitic propaganda on his computer, and hate-filled material including a video about the Christchurch massacre in New Zealand.

Anti-terror police raided his family home in Bexleyheath in February last year, after Burke shared a 27-page bomb-making manual with fellow extremists on a Telegram chat group.

The electronic document was named Minecraft_Bow_Ammo_Types.pdf in an apparent attempt to disguise its true nature.

Further terrorist documents, including the Anarchy Cookbook Version 2000, which gave recipes and advice for making explosives, had also been downloaded by Burke and disguised as handbooks to the popular video game Minecraft.

Burke’s barrister, Naeem Mian QC, said the teenager’s “mortified” parents were at Woolwich crown court for the sentencing hearing, and believe he “fell down a rabbit hole” online during lockdown.

“It is every parent’s worst nightmare”, he said. “Through a toxic combination coming together, a young man who is from a very loving background but socially isolated found he was having to stay at home as many people were during lockdown. So the isolation was even greater.

“He was therefore spending too much time on his computer and on the internet, in his room by himself.

“He is a young man who has disappeared down something one would term as a rabbit hole. A very dark rabbit hole which became something of an echo chamber.”

Mr Mian said Burke found a “sense of belonging” in the far right chatrooms and messaging apps, where “what he had to say mattered”.

The court heard Burke downloaded the extremist files between September and December 2020.

He was a member of a Telegram “English Only” group, and had posted a list of the names of fellow university students in September 2020 with the comment “my lectures are full of P***s”.

The following month he shared the bomb manual Minecraft file.

Judge Christopher Kinch QC said material of Burke’s computer, including an image of the teen posing with an imitation rifle, Nazi salutes, and a picture of his dagger nicknamed “Jew Smiter”, showed his extremist mindset.

“You got yourself caught up in some very dangerous activity and you waded in deep”, he said.

The judge noted a letter from the teenager’s parents, calling him a “loving, respectful, gentle young man” who they believe had been motivated to “make an impression” with people he met online, and said he believes Burke has a good chance of rehabilitation.

Burke pleaded guilty to disseminating a terrorist publication and four counts of possession of a document likely to be of use to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism.

He will be on licence for an extra year at the end of his three-and-a-half year sentence.

Evening Standard

Neo-Nazi terror offender ordered to read Jane Austen jailed after ‘unduly lenient’ sentence quashed

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January 19, 2022
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A neo-Nazi terror offender who was ordered to read Jane Austen has been jailed after judges overturned his “unduly lenient” sentence.

Ben John, now 22, was handed a suspended prison sentence for possessing a terrorist document in August, meaning he would not be jailed unless he broke the conditions of a Serious Crime Prevention Order

At the time, Judge Timothy Spencer QC urged him to swap far-right propaganda for English literature, asking John: “Have you ever read Dickens? Austen? Well, start now. Start with Pride and Prejudice. Shakespeare? Try Twelfth Night. Dickens, start with A Tale of Two Cities and, if you have time, think about Hardy and think about Trollope.”

He sentenced John to two years’ imprisonment, suspended for two years, with a one-year extended licence and a five-year Serious Crime Prevention Order.

Court of Appeal judges found that sentence was unlawful and sent John to prison for two years.

He was ordered to hand himself in at a police station by 4pm on Thursday, when he will be taken into custody.

Judges ruled that under the Sentencing Code which binds judges, sentences of more than two years cannot be suspended, and John’s term amounted to three years.

Lord Justice Holroyde did not criticise Judge Spencer’s remarks, and said he had been “in the best possible position to assess the offender”.

“It was certainly a very lenient sentence but we are not persuaded that in the circumstances in this case, the length of the term of imprisonment was itself unduly lenient,” he added.

“It is because the term was unlawful that we conclude it was unduly lenient.”

The Independent

Darlington boy youngest to be convicted of terrorist offence

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January 19, 2022
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A schoolboy has become the youngest person in the UK to be convicted of terror offences.

At Westminster Magistrates’ Court, the 14-year-old, who cannot be named, admitted three counts of possessing information useful to a terrorist.

The boy, from Darlington, was arrested in July last year when he was 13 as part of an investigation into extreme right-wing terrorism.

He was bailed and will be sentenced on 1 April at Newton Aycliffe Youth Court.

The teenager, who had been active on racist online forums, was charged last week with possessing information useful to a terrorist, with the offences relating to a period on or before July 2021, when he was 13.

The investigation was carried out by Counter Terrorism Policing North East.

Until now the youngest British terror offender was a neo-Nazi from Cornwall who downloaded one of several terrorist manuals when he was 13 but he was two years older when he was arrested.

The youngest person convicted of planning a terrorist attack in the UK was a 16-year-old boy, also from Country Durham.

BBC News