NAZI BOMB NUT’S DEADLY ARSENAL
Lone wolf survival fanatic with lethal weapons cache and a list of Scots mosques is found guilty of planning terror attacks
A NEO-NAZI who stockpiled components for bombs and kept a list of mosque addresses has been put behind bars after he was convicted of planning terror attacks.
Connor Ward, 25, acquired hundreds of ball bearings and rocket tubes that could be used to make pipe bombs and for firing projectiles.
He had an arms stash that included a stun gun, hundreds of knuckledusters, knives and metal bars as well as deactivated bullets.
Ward, from Banff, downloaded thousands of documents on firearms and extreme right-wing propaganda, including Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf.
The former psychiatric patient claimed he was suffering from mental illness at the time he downloaded the documents.
He said that he acquired the files because he believed the world was going to end in 2012 and he wanted to survive the apocalypse.
But jurors at the High Court in Edinburgh returned guilty verdicts to two charges of breaching the Terrorism Act after a five-week trial.
Police discovered his stash of weapons after receiving a tip-off that Ward had broken firearms laws by buying a stun gun from abroad.
A search of his home also found a mobile phone signal jamming device and a machine for detecting electronic bugs.
Ward’s computer and a USB stick contained tens of thousands of documents from the internet on firearms and survival techniques. The files also included extreme right-wing propaganda and military tactics.
Detectives also found a map file containing the postal addresses of five mosques in the Aberdeen area on the hard drive.
They also found that Ward had started to write a book called Combat 18 British Mosque Address Book. Combat 18 are a neo-Nazi group.
The court heard how, on the title page of the book, Ward wrote a dedication that said: “This book is dedicated to all that follow Mohammed and the Islamic faith. You will all soon suffer your demise.”
This led the police to believe that Ward was set to launch “lone wolf ” terror attacks.
Computer expert James Borwick said some of the internet searches made on Ward’s laptop included phrases such as “fake police warrant cards”, “how to make a flash grenade” and “how to make inert bullets work”.
He told the court that the computer contained the Tor browser, which he said enabled Ward to surf the dark web and to potentially look at sites selling guns and explosives.
Ward also had documents on military and survival techniques, including files showing how to operate an AK-47 and “techniques of silent killing”.
Professor Matthew Feldman, an academic who specialises in extreme
right-wing groups, analysed the content of Ward’s computer. He said he found Mein Kampf and the Turner Diaries, a novel about a group of white people who start a race war and a book the FBI consider to be the “bible” of neo-Nazism. Professor Feldman said he believed that Ward was an “exemplary” neo-Nazi. Ward admitted in court that he was a “white supremacist” who was “definitely” anti-Jewish. He also said that he was also against “Jihadi” Islam but he denied suggestions that he was planning a terrorist attack. Asked in court by Richard Goddard, prosecuting, what he thought of Hitler, Ward replied: “I think he made mistakes. He wasn’t right in every aspect.”
But Ward denied he was planning to carry out terrorism attacks.
Speaking about the Combat 18 book, Ward said the title was a “working one”.
He added: “To me at the time that phrase was not a threat in the way you are making it sound.”
Ward was found guilty of taking part in conduct between February 2011 and November 2014 that showed his intention to commit acts of terrorism.
He was also convicted of collecting information likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism.
The court was told that Ward had been jailed for three years in 2012 for possessing an explosive substance.
He admitted collecting the chemical constituents of a bomb he planned to use to attack his father.
He told police that he bore a grudge and that “voices in his head” were telling him to kill.
Ward was given a 22-month jail sentence in April 2015 for possessing a stun gun disguised as a torch and for collecting hundreds of knuckledusters and knives.
He was also convicted in July 2016 of having an “improvised” knife while serving that prison sentence and given another 18 months.
Ward was sentenced to another four months in custody in August 2016 for assaulting someone while in custody.
Drew McKenzie, defending Ward, told the court that he would reserve his mitigation until sentencing takes place at the High Court in Glasgow.
Judge Lord Burns thanked the jurors for their service and adjourned sentence on Ward until next month to obtain reports on his character.
Outside court, Detective Chief Superintendent Gerry McLean, of Police Scotland’s Organised Crime and Counter Terrorism Unit, welcomed Ward’s conviction.
He said: “Although he operated alone, the weapons, manuals and downloads he possessed had the potential to cause serious harm. While we may never know the full extent of Ward’s intentions thanks to the early intervention of police, we do know that we cannot underestimate the dangerous nature of any behaviour or activity linked to terrorism.
“These acts are very rare, not least in the north-east of Scotland, and while concerted action takes place every day alongside our partners to protect the public it is crucial that communities remain vigilant.
“Terrorist-related activity will not be tolerated in any form and if you are intent on trying to harm our communities, we will do everything in our power to stop you.”