‘Abhorrent’ teenage terror convict spared jail

A 14-year-old, thought to be one of the UK’S youngest convicted terrorists, yesterday avoided a custodial sentence despite a judge branding some of his comments “abhorrent”.

The UK’S Chief Magistrate, Senior District Judge Paul Goldspring, sentenced the teenager, who cannot be identified, to a 12-month referral order in which he must work with the Youth Offending Service. The boy had admitted three counts of possessing a terrorist publication at a hearing at Westminster Magistrates’ Court in January. “The terminology you used was concerning and abhorrent,” Judge Goldspring said at Newton Aycliffe Youth Court in County Durham.