Any young person can be radicalised
Warning to parents as top grammar pupil faces jail for far-Right terror
PARENTS were yesterday warned to be on the look out for signs their children are being radicalised – as the son of a House of Lords clerk faces jail on far-Right terror charges.
Elite grammar school pupil Harry Vaughan, described as a neo-Nazi satanist, has been convicted of downloading and distributing bomb-making manuals.
The 18-year-old, who achieved A- stars in his A- levels, was arrested during a probe into a website calling itself a ‘home for the 21st century fascist’.
Police warned the case showed that any young person can be vulnerable to radicalisation.
A court heard Vaughan had an ‘extreme Right-wing and racist mindset’ and ‘ an interest in explosives, firearms and violence’. His father Jake – head of corporate services at the Lords – and teacher mother Rachel have questioned if they were to blame. Both were at the Old Bailey yesterday to hear their son could face jail when sentenced next Friday.
The former pupil at Tiffin School in Kingston, south-west London, had 128 other internet accounts – including one for System Resistance Network, a group that supports white supremacy and attacks immigration and gay rights. His defence barrister, Naeem Mian QC, said the teen had ‘disappeared down an internet rabbit hole’. He said Vaughan’s parents were ‘loving and committed’, adding: ‘This is perhaps an ideal illustration of the dangers each and every parent has to deal with, potentially.
‘We cannot be sure where they are going, what they are doing in their bedrooms. That is the position the parents of this young man have found themselves in. They have questioned themselves. Are they to blame?’
Mr Justice Sweeney, said: ‘As a parent myself, I am naturally sympathetic to their plight.’ The head of Scotland Yard’s counter terrorism command, Richard Smith, said: ‘Harry Vaughan is an intelligent young man who was aspiring to study computing at university.
‘Yet, online, he was an enthusiastic participant of Right-wing terrorist forums. He made and published vitriolic graphics encouraging terrorism and signposted people to violent terrorist guidebooks online.
‘His case illustrates it is possible for any young person to be susceptible to radicalisation, so today I really want to appeal to everyone to be as vigilant as possible for signs that a young loved-one may be in trouble.
‘If you have any concerns at all, act decisively – talk to the police before it’s too late.’
Vaughan, from Twickenham, was arrested on June 19 last year. Police found 4,200 images and 302 files, including an extreme Right-wing terrorist book and documents relating to satanism, Neo-Nazism and antiSemitism, on his devices.
They included graphics encouraging acts of terrorism in the name of banned organisation the Sonnenkrieg Division, a guide to killing, and bomb-making manuals.
Vaughan had documents showing how to make ‘ new and improved’ C-4 and Semtex plastic explosives and how to construct a homemade detonator, and had searched for the location of schools in his area. He had also downloaded and watched two child sex abuse videos, classified category A – the most serious type.
The talented cellist achieved A-stars in maths, further maths, physics and history in the summer. His school, once attended by former England cricket captain Alec Stewart, accepts only 140 pupils a year from 1,300 applicants. It boasts that 85 per cent of its A-level grades are between A-star and B. Some of the illegal material was on a USB stick bearing Tiffin’s logo.
Mr Mian said: ‘He is somebody who has disappeared down a rabbit hole, a rabbit hole of the internet, and he is in a very, very dark place. He suggests or intimates he was groomed.’
Vaughan pleaded guilty to 14 terror offences and two counts of possessing child sex abuse images. Mr Justice Sweeney released him on conditional bail, but warned: ‘All sentencing options are open.’
‘Down an internet rabbit hole’