Teenagers who plotted Columbine-style massacre at Yorkshire school locked up
Judge reveals identities of ‘twisted’ pair who at 14 wanted to copy 1999 killing spree by their heroes
TWO 15-year-old boys who plotted to murder classmates in their Yorkshire school in a Columbine-style massacre were locked up yesterday for a total of 22 years, after a judge blamed the internet for “poisoning their young minds”.
Thomas Wyllie and Alex Bolland, who planned to “cause terror on the scale of a school shooting in America”, had been found guilty at Leeds Crown Court of conspiracy to murder.
The boys hero-worshipped Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, the teenagers who carried out the infamous massacre in Colorado in 1999.
The pair, who were arrested when aged just 14, had devised their own plan for their school in Northallerton, North Yorks, drawing up a revenge “hit list” of students and teachers who had either bullied or wronged them.
They also downloaded bomb-making manuals off the internet and attempted to obtain guns and ammunition.
Wyllie, who was given a 12-year custodial term, was motivated by a far Right-wing “twisted ideology”.
In a notebook recovered from his home in October 2017, Wyllie apologised in advance for either committing “one of the worst atrocities in British history” or killing himself. He had kept a rucksack filled with screws, boards and flammable liquid at a secret hideout at Catterick Garrison.
Mrs Justice Cheema-grubb, in lifting an order which had stopped the boys being identified, said in sentencing Wyllie: “You modelled yourself on the apparent leader of the Columbine pair, Eric Harris, and Alex Bolland was to take up the somewhat subsidiary role of Dylan Klebold.” In sentencing Bolland to 10 years, she said: “You were bullied over a period of years and it had a profound impact on you. The school authorities failed to take your complaints seriously and failed you badly. But that was no justification for what you planned.”
Of their obsession on the Dark Web, the judge warned: “It is self-evident that the unchecked consumption of such material on the internet is capable of poisoning young minds.”
Both boys’ parents sat in the public gallery as sentencing was delivered. Only Bolland’s mother wept.
The planned attack came to the attention of teachers in September 2017 after a Snapchat conversation with a girl revealing the plot was brought to the attention of teachers. However, the pair were not arrested until the following month, after Wyllie’s secret hideout was discovered by police.
♦ A British plumber who made bombs for the Taliban in Afghanistan and who plotted a knife attack on MPS and police outside Parliament has been handed three life sentences with a minimum term of 40 years. Khalid Ali, 28, of north London, had three knives when he was arrested in Parliament Square in April. Following a trial in June, Ali was found guilty of preparing terrorist acts in Britain and two charges of possessing explosive substances with intent abroad. Huang and Tom Kerridge, for inspiring his new diet. He has been taking advice from them on their weekend food shows, Saturday Kitchen and Sunday Brunch, where he is a regular guest and occasional presenter.
A friend of the comedian said Vegas, 47, had been on a year-long health kick.
He has admitted to drinking too much at one time in his life, needing the alcohol to boost his larger-than-life Johnny Vegas persona.
“Drink would encourage Johnny out, and that was the only time my fear of stand-up went away,” he wrote in his 2013 autobiography. “He was someone who was quite detrimental to my health, both emotionally and physically.”
Since then he has concentrated on presenting and acting, with roles in the BBC sitcoms Still Open All Hours and Home from Home.