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The nation’s youngest convicted terrorist, who ran a neo-Nazi cell from his grandmother’s home, has avoided custody.
He was 13 when he received instructions on explosives, and a year later he had collected terrorist material and was sharing far-right ideology in card rooms.
An Old Bailey judge gave the now 16-year-old boy a two-year-old rehabilitation order as he was sentenced Monday with his grandmother holding his hand.
The defendant, from southeastern Cornwall, pleaded guilty to 10 counts of possession of terrorist material and two counts of dissemination of terrorist documents.
Judge Mark Dennis QC told the boy, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, that he had entered an “online world of perverse prejudice.”
He said that a custodial sentence would undo the job to rehabilitate him and pointed to his remorse, in addition to saying that he was “susceptible to the influence of others.”
However, he warned that any recidivism would mean “increasingly prolonged periods of incarceration.”
His grandmother was with him when he was sentenced by video link from Bodmin Magistrates Court.
The court previously heard that between October 2018 and July 2019, the teenager had gathered a large amount of far-right material.
It included ingredients for napalm, how to make bombs and Molotov cocktails, how to build an AK-47 rifle, and instructions on how to fight with a knife.
He also spoke online about “gassing” Jews, hanging gays and wanting to “shoot their parades,” the court heard.
The boy is said to have recruited Paul Dunleavy (pictured), who was convicted last year.
In the summer of 2019, he became the British cell leader of the FKD (Feuerkrieg Division), a neo-Nazi group that idolizes people like Anders Breivik, the Norwegian mass murderer.
The network encouraged “lone wolf” attacks.
He was responsible for recruiting members and propaganda, listened to the court, and was allegedly in contact with the Estonian “commander” of the 13-year-old group.
The Cornwall teenager is said to have recruited five people, including 17-year-old Paul Dunleavy, who was sentenced to more than five years in detention for terrorist crimes in 2019.
The court heard that the couple had spoken about obtaining arms and that they had also commissioned a poster showing an atomic bomb cloud over Parliament with the slogan “Sterilize the cesspool you call London.”
One of his recruits was an undercover officer, and his home was finally raided in July 2019 after information suggested he was trying to manufacture a weapon.
No weapons were found, but officers seized his computer and phone and found a Nazi flag and neo-Nazi text.
He also had 1488, a Nazi symbol, painted on his shed.
The boy told police that he had no far-right leanings, nor was he racist or homophobic, claiming it was just an attempt to “look good” online, and said he had been considering leaving the FKD.
Detective Inspector Mark Samuel of Counter Terrorism Policing South West said the case showed that “potential extremism can lie beyond the screen of any computer and phone.”
“This is especially true during the confinement where young people spend more time online, often alone and unsupervised,” he added.
Mr. Samuel encouraged anyone who had concerns about someone potentially radicalized to seek help at the Act early website.
