Boy, 14, who was ‘groomed’ by fracking activists referred to anti-terrorism programme

A 14-YEAR-OLD A*-student was referred to the Government’s anti-terrorism programme after being “groomed” by fracking activists online.

The boy, known by the pseudonym Aaron, was singled out via social media after signing an online petition, according to a report on preventing extremism in Greater Manchester that was commissioned in the aftermath of last year’s Manchester Arena attack.

Aaron was referred to the anti-terrorism programme Channel by his school due to concerns about his extreme beliefs in relation to the environment, specifically issues around fracking.

According to the report, Aaron was encouraged to participate in local protests against fracking by activists. However, their approaches became “progressively more aggressive, to the point where Aaron was on the periphery of engaging with criminal behaviour”, and was being frequently reported as missing by his parents.

Activists only ceased contact with the boy when police made them the subject of an abduction notice. This prohibited them from making contact with a named child. A breach of such a notice is a criminal offence.

While in contact with the activists, Aaron’s school attendance declined and he continued to visit rallies and began engaging with other activists on the dark web, according to the report by the Greater Manchester Preventing Hateful Extremism and Promoting Social Cohesion Commission.

The commission found mental health and learning difficulties were a common feature in the cases they examined.

His parents became increasingly concerned and the report cited that they had made “tremendous efforts” to monitor his social media activity which allowed them to find him quickly “before any harm was inflicted”.

Aaron’s parents sought help from Channel, part of the government’s antiterrorism strategy Prevent, which aims to identify and provide support to individuals who are at risk of being drawn into terrorism. Despite efforts from local partners they struggled to “identify a tactic which would effectively … protect Aaron”.

After exploring a number of avenues with limited success, the decision was made to issue an abduction notice to the main protagonist of the social media lobbying.

The report noted: “Within two hours of the notice being issued, Aaron was ‘de-friended’ on social media by all those individuals who had encouraged his activist behaviour. When Aaron tried to access his activist ‘friends’, he received no responses and as such, while the underlying vulnerabilities still remain and continue to be monitored, the threat in terms of his involvement in extremist activity, which had been becoming more intense, was resolved.”

As a result, Aaron, who is believed to be the youngest person referred to Prevent in relation to fracking, became more settled at school and his attendance improved, while he formed closer bonds with “appropriate peers.”