Cambridge graduate loses his appeal against being jailed for having bomb-making manual
A CAMBRIDGE maths graduate who was jailed for possessing a bomb-making instruction manual has lost an appeal against his sentence.
Oliver Bel, 25, was convicted in April of collecting information likely to be useful to a terrorist, after police found a copy of The Anarchist Cookbook in a search of his home in November 2019.
Bel, 25, previously of Wilmslow, Cheshire, came to the attention of the authorities in January 2019 while studying at Pembroke College when a member of the public reported his antisemitic comments made in a Facebook group in which he also defended Adolf Hitler.
Following a trial, jurors at Manchester Crown Court rejected his defence he had a reasonable excuse as he claimed he used the text for academic research.
He was jailed for two years and told he must serve an extended licence period of 12 months when released from custody.
At a High Court hearing yesterday, judges heard legal submissions on Bel’s behalf that his sentence should have been suspended due to his mental health problems.
Lord Justice Fulford, sitting with Mr Justice Murray and Mr Justice Wall, dismissed the appeal finding that a suspended sentence had not been a viable option for sentencing judge Alan Conrad, QC.
Richard Wormald, QC, representing Bel, told the court his client was diagnosed with Asperger’s syndrome and that he was vulnerable, young and of previous good character.
He acknowledged his offending was serious and that Bel had become obsessed with right-wing political ideology, some of it vile and offensive.
Mr Wormald told the court those with Asperger’s syndrome can have intense, narrow and often obsessional interests. He argued that the sentencing judge could have considered whether the best place for Bel was in the community, under supervision, being monitored with his problems being addressed.
But Joe Allman, representing the Crown, said of Bel there was no real cogent evidence of a link between the offence and his mental health.
Bel, who was on a videolink, gave little reaction as his appeal was dismissed.