Young people are becoming desensitised to potentially harmful material they view online, a senior police officer has said, as a boy was locked up for terror and weapons offences.
The 15-year-old boy, from Market Drayton in Shropshire, was sentenced to 18 months in custody with a further year on licence at the Old Bailey on Friday after earlier admitting possessing a butterfly knife, a stun gun, a baton and crossbow at his home, and having terrorist information relating to manifestos of those who went on to commit acts of terror.
West Mercia Police Chief Superintendent Mo Lansdale, the Local Policing Commander for Shropshire and Telford, said the material found on devices seized from the boy’s home during the investigation was “truly shocking”.
She said it was clear the boy had a “real, dangerous obsession with extreme violence and weapons”, including school shooting massacres, and shared racist views.
The material was discovered when police attended the boy’s home for an unrelated warrant, and counter terrorism police became involved.
Speaking to the PA news agency at West Mercia Police headquarters in Hindlip, Worcestershire, Ms Lansdale 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.”
She added: “Unfortunately, we are seeing these young children are almost becoming desensitised to some of the things that they’re viewing online, and what that can then lead to.”
It is important that parents and carers speak to their children about their online activities and know what material they could be accessing, she added.
She said: “I completely understand it can be difficult to have those conversations, but it’s understanding what they are viewing and speaking openly about what harmful content there can be and what can be accessed.
“It’s also recognising the subtle signs – generally, as parents and carers, you will notice changes in your children, so exploring those and trying to understand why.”
Ms Lansdale, who has spent her policing career with the West Mercia force, said she had never dealt with a case like this before.
She said: “It is truly shocking, and I completely understand that the local community will rightly be concerned with what we’ve identified.
“That’s where we all have a responsibility to continue to really make sure we’re aware of what is out there and actually, how can we make sure that this doesn’t happen again.
“I understand the concerns that the community will have, particularly in such a tight-knit community and in our rural area that we have in the county.”
She said she was “relieved” officers intervened when they did and said only the teenager knows exactly what, if anything, he was planning to do with the cache of weapons.
She said: “I think we will probably never truly know what he was planning. Obviously, he’s viewed an awful lot of material and there’s that extreme obsession with violence.
“I think he is the only individual who really knows what, if anything, he was planning to do in the future. I’m just relieved that we’ve managed to intervene at that stage.”
She said police will “relentlessly” investigate crimes that are reported to them.
She said: “I encourage people to report any concerns that they might have. There’s a website called Act Early that provides guidance and support if you’re not sure what signs to look for.
“Anything that is reported, we will look at and take seriously. I’d much rather that we receive a report and that actually, nothing’s found there, than it not to be reported at all, because nothing’s lost that way.
“Policing and our wider partners are ultimately committed to investigating such types of offences, and we will do that relentlessly, but I think there’s that important part that we’ve all got to play in that.
“When we become aware of such information, we will deal with it, we will act on it, and we will look to bring those offenders to justice for those offences that have been committed.”
