Crossbow terrorist who fantasised about mass shootings gets 10 years
He ‘identified’ with spree killers who hate women
A MAN who amassed an arsenal of weapons in preparation for a terrorist outrage has been jailed for ten years.
Gabrielle Friel, 22, was convicted of preparing a terror attack with a lethal crossbow, 15 bolts for the weapon, a scope and a bullet-proof vest.
He was cleared of another charge that he wanted to carry out a ‘spree killing’. Friel had denied both charges. The High Court in Edinburgh had been told that Friel was ‘addicted’ to reading about mass murders carried out by misogynist killers.
He also studied mass shootings by men who described themselves as ‘incels’ – involuntary celibates.
The court heard that many incels believe physically attractive women should be subjected to rape and violent attack.
A psychiatrist who was treating Friel believed the accused was identifying with the incel movement – as did a social worker in contact with him.
The jury convicted Friel of a charge which stated that between June 1, 2019, and August 16, 2019, at various locations in Edinburgh, he possessed weapons ‘for a purpose connected with the commission, preparation or instigation of an act of terrorism’.
This breached section 57 of the 2000 Terrorism Act.
Jurors found not proven a second charge t hat he had breached the Terrorism Act by conducting online research in a bid to acquire a gun.
That charge also stated that he had searched online for mass murders that were committed by individuals ‘expressing motivation... or affiliation’ with incels.
It stated, too, that he assembled the crossbow and test-fired it at a drinks can before storing it at his home in the city.
Sentencing him yesterday, judge Lord Beckett said: ‘There is no suitable alternative to a custodial sentence. It is necessary to punish you, to seek to deter you and others from acquiring articles for the purposes of terrorism.’
The judge also ordered that Friel be supervised and monitored for a further five-year period to protect the public from serious harm.
The former college student was told that for 30 years he would be subject to notification requirements under counterterrorism legislation informing authorities of his whereabouts.
The judge also imposed a serious crime prevention order to run for five years after his release, controlling use of mobile phones and the internet. Friel add previously come to police attention in November 2017, when he was detained following an incident at Edinburgh College’s Granton Campus. When officers found Friel in the toilets, he pulled out a large kitchen knife from a bag and brandished it over his head.
During a struggle, one officer suffered a laceration to his shoulder.
Following that incident, Friel pleaded guilty to assaulting the officer of to his injury and danger of life and was given a community n payback order. He was ordered to be kept un under supervision for two years, to carry out 300 hours of unpaid wo work and to engage with medica cal or psychiatric treatment as re required following his appearan ance at Edinburgh Sheriff Cou Court. Ye Yesterday, Lord Beckett said: ‘You have already been convicted of st stabbing a police officer to the dan danger of his life in circumstances whic which are very troubling in light of w what you told the court in evid evidence of your fascination with,
‘Convicted of stabbing a police officer’ ‘No possible justification’
and fantasies about, spree killin killings.
‘W ‘Whilst you have explained the diffi difficulties which you have felt in you your family life, education and soci social life, they offer no possible justification for what you did, which went well beyond the realms of fantasy given the items which you accumulated and the circumstances in which you did so.’
Friel denied ever planning a mass shooting, saying that he suffered from mental health problems and had acquired the crossbow and bullet-proof vest in the hope that if he appeared carrying them in the street, the police would shoot him.