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.”
