Gloucester schoolboy who planned mass shooting jailed for 16 years
A schoolboy who tried to import a handgun to carry out a mass shooting has been jailed for 16 years.
Kyle Davies from Gloucester was studying for his A-levels when he started planning his massacre.
He was found guilty of ordering a handgun and ammunition online with the plan to carry out mass murder earlier this year.
Judge Paul Cook jailed Davies, who appeared at Taunton Crown Court via video link, for 16 years and ordered that he serve an additional three years on licence.
The 19-year-old consistently denied the charges. He claimed during the trial that he intended to commit suicide with the equipment which he purchased from the Dark Web using the cryptocurrency Bitcoin.
After a two week trial in July, Gloucester Crown Court rejected his claims. The A-level student was convicted of two charges, attempting to import the gun and attempting to import five rounds of ammunition with intent to endanger life in June last year.
The prosecution found that his plan to carry out a murder was inspired by his 'poster boys' - the Columbine killers, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, as well as Norwegian mass killer Anders Breivik, whom he idolised and had researched extensively. The police found thousands of searches on his laptop on the mass killers going back to 1999 shootings.
It was heard during the trial that Davies compiled a 'manifesto of death' (entitled ‘Gotterdamerung’, or ‘the end of time’) which outlined the materials he would need to carry out a successful mass killing. Included was a list of weapons, explosives, body armour and the ingredients needed to make explosives.
It was a dealer in New Jersey, USA, who supplied the Glock 17 pistol and 9mm rounds of hollow-nose ammunition. Both were used by the American and Norwegian killers.
Further shocking details - including a timeline of his plan - were found on his personal devices, including a laptop, mobile phone and memory stick.
Detective Inspector Kevin Till, who led the investigation for the South West Regional Organised Crime Unit (SW ROCU), said:
Davies was caught out when the £300 worth of equipment he purchased to carry out the shooting was intercepted by Homeland Security Investigations at Newark Airport, New York.
SW ROCU and Gloucestershire Police worked together to deliver a replica parcel to Davies using an undercover policeman. He was later arrested by armed police and his house was searched.
It was found that Davies had drawn 77 stick men to represent the victims of the 2011 explosion and shootings in Norway. His own target was not identified during the trial, however it has been proved that he intended to kill and his operations were well underway.
It was also shown that he had planned to one day be the focus of a police investigation. Handwritten notes were found in his bedroom within a school workbook including ‘Hello Mr Policeman’ and ‘This one Mr Policeman’.