Terror accused carried out hostile reconnaissance of police station, court told

A COLLEGE student who was referred to the Prevent anti-terror programme due to his extreme rightwing views carried out “hostile reconnaissance” of a police station he considered targeting, a court has heard.

Luke Skelton, 18, said to have racist, sexist, homophobic, antisemitic and Islamophobic views, denies preparing to commit acts of terrorism over the year to October 2021. The Gateshead College student, from Oxclose, Washington, Tyne and Wear, took photos of

Forth Banks police station in Newcastle last September, Teesside Crown Court was told.

Nicholas de la Poer QC, prosecuting, said the purpose was to carry out “hostile reconnaissance” and the site was one of three police stations he considered as potential targets.

Demonstrating the defendant’s mindset in the run-up to the event, Mr de la Poer said: “Luke Skelton believed in an extreme right-wing ideology.

“An ideology which lionised

Adolf Hitler.

“An ideology which is racist, sexist, Islamophobic and antisemitic. An ideology which sees violence as a way to achieve political objectives and notoriety.”

The prosecution anticipated that Skelton, who has autism, may try to say his views were merely trying to shock or because he was bored, but the Crown will argue that he was planning acts of terror.

Concerns were raised at the college about images in his workbook and Skelton told a tutor he had strong views about immigration and held right-wing views, the court was told.

In January last year, he searched how to make dynamite and also started writing a so-called “final note” on his phone, intended to be read by others after something had happened, the jury was told.

An expert on right-wing extremism will explain Skelton’s “final note” may have been influenced by his admiration for terrorists Anders Brevik and Brenton Tarrant, prosecutors said.