‘IRA sympathiser’ had beheading videos on phone
MAN JAILED OVER ‘GRUESOME’ MATERIALS FOUND AT HOME
AN ‘IRA sympathist’ who said ‘he couldn’t wait for the Queen to be dead’ had videos of beheadings and torture on his mobile phone.
Christopher Partington, from Salford, has now been jailed for three years and two months at Manchester Crown Court.
Partington denied having terrorist motivations, but a judge said there was an ‘abundance’ of evidence.
After being arrested, specialist bomb disposal officers searched the home of 33-year-old Partington – who at the time was suffering ‘a significant mental disorder,’ the sentencing judge said.
The Army unit didn’t find any explosives but officers seized the defendant’s mobile phone, and found a number of documents banned under the Terrorism Act.
The books and manuscripts contained information about explosives, weapons, unarmed combat, poisons, and boobytraps.
There were also videos of beheadings and torture, described in court as ‘gruesome’ and ‘grotesque.’
Other images recovered included a poem by IRA hunger striker Bobby Sands, and a girl in an ‘IRA style’ balaclava which prosecutors said demonstrated a support for the IRA.
Police said that in interview, Partington denied being a terrorist and claimed he came across some documents by ‘accident.’
GMP also said Partington claimed to be reading them because ‘he was bored.’
The court heard that when speaking to the probation service, Partington ‘expressed his hatred for the British Government and the Crown’ and that ‘he could not wait for the Queen to be dead.’
Defending, Michael Johnson said Partington suffers from mental health problems, and that at the time he was having an ‘episode of crisis and distress.’
Addressing Partington, who appeared via videolink from HMP Hewell in Worcestershire, Judge David Stockdale QC said: “You had expressed to the Probation Service your support for the IRA, your apparent hatred of the British Government and the Crown.
“I find that there is an abundance of evidence that you had terrorist motivations.
“I am satisfied you didn’t intend immediate physical harm to anyone.
“You were committing these offences at a time of significant domestic and emotional upheaval.
“You were suffering from significant mental disorder.”
Partington, of Wildbrook Road, Little Hulton, pleaded guilty to six offences relating to the possession of a document or record likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism. He also pleaded guilty to possession of ammunition.
Two shotgun cartridges were found in his caravan. An earlier conviction meant he could not lawfully have such items for five years after his release from prison.
After the hearing, Detective Superintendent Will Chatterton, of Counter Terrorism Policing for the North West, said: “Partington is a prime example that we are committed to targeting anyone who could pose a risk to the safety of our country, in whatever form of extremism they are involved in.”