Neo-Nazi schoolboys who wanted to bomb London because it ‘isn’t English’ spared jail

A 16 year old who ran an extremist right-wing group on Telegram was spared jail yesterday, alongside another teenager with whom he discussed bombing London because it “isn’t English.”

After going down a “twisted rabbit hole” in lockdown, the boy, who cannot be named because of his age, was just 14 when he set up The British Hand on 5 August last year on the encrypted Telegram app.

It was revealed that members included someone who plotted a terror attack.

READ MORE: South East London extremist jailed for sharing material encouraging violent Jihad

The teenager from south Derbyshire appeared for sentencing at Westminster Magistrates’ Court alongside another 16 year old boy who was a member of the group and also accused of sharing terrorist propaganda.

The self-appointed “commander” of his group claimed The British Hand was the “ultra-nationalist answer to Black Lives Matter.”

He vetted like-minded individuals before allowing them entry to private chat groups where he talked about “doing something” against ethnic minorities, Prosecutor Alistair Richardson told the court.

He also downloaded a “leader board” of far-right killers and told members of one far-right group that he wanted to go down to his local skatepark and launch an attack.

The offences occurred during the first national lockdown when he spent a “concerning amount of time online” being radicalised by other young extremists.

Mark Luckett, defending the boy, said he had been diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and lacked maturity.

The boy admitted one offence of encouragement of terrorism, one of dissemination of a terrorist publication and one offence of possessing information useful for terrorism at Westminster Youth Court.

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But he went on to say: “I don’t hold those views and I don’t know how I got to hold those views. That’s not the person I am. I spent a lot of time in my bedroom doing nothing. I think I need to be a normal child again.”

For these reasons, Chief Magistrate Paul Goldspring did not pass a custodial sentence, despite telling the boy his views were “seemingly entrenched.”

Instead, he handed down a 24-month youth referral order, and added: “I cannot emphasise enough how close you came to a further period of custody and until last night I was going to do so, but I changed my mind at 11pm last night, that is how close you came.

“If you breach the order by not complying all bets are off again and you face the almost certainty of an immediate custodial term.”

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https://www.mylondon.news/news/neo-nazi-schoolboys-who-wanted-21540331

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