Neo-Nazi teenager convicted of preparing to commit terrorist acts

By Kris Jepson

A teenage Neo-Nazi from Durham has been convicted of six terror offences, including preparing to commit acts of terrorism in his home city between October 2017 and March this year.

The 16-year-old boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, listed venues in Durham "worth attacking" in a hand-written manifesto entitled "Storm 88 - A Manual For Practical And Sensible Guerrilla Warfare Against The Kike System In The Durham City Area, Sieg Heil."

One expert on the radical right told ITV News Tyne Tees this was the "most extreme" case he had seen in almost 20 years of research.

Watch @krisjepson's report here:

During the trial, the jury was told how the boy, who described himself as a "natural sadist" had researched Neo-Nazism, taking inspiration from far right terrorists like Anders Breivik.

The boy was described as a follower of "occult" neo-Nazism, who researched Adolf Hitler, other far-right figures and had read Mein Kampf.

The head of the Centre for Analysis of the Radical Right, Professor Matthew Feldman told ITV News Tyne Tees, there was a "shocking" level of extremism involved in the case.

The jury heard how the boy listed targets for potential attacks, including a passport office, schools, pubs, council buildings, bus stops and post offices in a section labeled "Areas To Attack" to "maximise the impact of the attacks and damage the system the most".

In one note he wrote that he wanted to target the City of Durham with "guerrilla warfare" and in another he wrote about replacing democracy with "political violence".

In one entry he wrote of planning to conduct an arson spree with Molotov cocktails on local synagogues.

Various handwritten documents were seized from his bedroom in March by police, who also found a collection of far-right literature, Manchester Crown Court heard.

The jury heard how the defendant had researched explosives and tried to obtain the dangerous chemical ammonium nitrate.

He also visited websites on firearms and was in communication with a gun auctioneer.

Counter-Terrorism Policing North East welcomed the convictions.

Amjid Khazir runs Middlesbrough based Media Cultured. It delivers anti-radicalisation workshops to young people across the country.

He told ITV News he was disturbed by the case, but not surprised.

The boy will be sentenced on 7 January next year.