Lonely teens lured by far-Right terror

LONELY young people left isolated during the pandemic are more likely to be drawn to terrorism, say police.

The warning came after the amount of extreme Right-wing material flagged up to investigators rose by 43 per cent.

The Counter-Terrorism Internet Referral Unit (CTIRU) has been told about 3,000 pieces of suspected terrorist content this year, up from 2,796 in 2019 – an increase of about 7 per cent.

But the number of referrals of Right-wing content rose from 134 last year to 192 between January and November 20 this year.

And the number of under-18s arrested for terrorism offences rose from 11 in the year ending September 2019 to 17 in 2020.

Detective Chief Superintendent Kevin Southworth, from the CTIRU, which is run by the Metropolitan Police, said the data indicates that one unforeseen consequence of the pandemic and lockdown restrictions could be that more young people are radicalised.

‘There has been a slight shift during the pandemic, which may reflect people being at home more, and perhaps spending more time online,’ he said.

‘Perhaps in some instances, sadly, people who have less people to speak to are perhaps recoursing to online media for greater quantities of their time because they’ve been stuck in self-isolation or lacking people to come into contact with.’

A website and helpline called Act Early has been set up to encourage adults to report signs of young people at risk of being radicalised.