Teen who spoke of ‘gassing’ Jews admits terror offences
A SCHOOLBOY who became the leader of a British far-right terror cell at the age of 14 and talked about “gassing” Jews is facing jail.
The 16-year-old, who cannot be named for legal reasons, masterminded the UK branch of the notorious Feuerkrieg Division (FKD) from his grandmother’s cottage until 11 July 2019.
The Old Bailey heard how police, on visiting his home, found a neo-Nazi flag and the extremist codes “14” and “88” — standing for “Heil Hitler” painted on the garden shed.
The teenager branded far-right mass murderers including New Zealand mosque killer Brenton Tarrant “saints” and praised them for having the “guts” to act on their hateful beliefs.
He enlisted autistic 17-year-old Paul Dunleavy, who was jailed for more than five years last year for plotting a terrorist attack, by setting up encrypted wire chats and “interviewing” him online.
In conversations with the leader of FKD, known only as “Commander”, the teenager discussed how to build membership of the cult so that “nothing can be traced back to me”.
When he was arrested, the teenager told police he had written homophobic and antisemitic posts online to look “cool”.
Despite his young age, he ran “FKD GB” single-handedly, under the supervision of no one but the overall ‘Commander,’ and threatened members with expulsion if they refused to ‘act.’
He appeared via at the Old Bailey on Monday via video link alongside his supportive grandmother after admitting 10 counts of possessing terrorist documents and two counts of distributing terrorist material.
Naomi Parsons, prosecuting, said: “He was aged 14 for the most part for the 11 offences but there was one offence committed when he was 13 years of age.
“He came to the attention of Counter Terrorism police in July 2019.
The prosecutor said: “Notwithstanding his young age… he was in fact very knowledgable about what he was doing. He told commander, the overall leader, that he would never split off and become a separate group, I quote: ‘unless FKD got proscribed as a terrorist org or SHTF — sh** hits the fan’. He was aware of what he was setting up. His role was to vet applicants which he would do by asking a series of questions he had agreed with Commander. He was very mindful.”
“By the time police intervened in July 2019 some six weeks later, he had gathered just five members. In addition to that and his capacity as leader, he produced propaganda. This includes the ‘Nuke London poster’, which is count one.”
Judge Mark Dennis said he would need to consider whether the teenager had been ‘immature’ or ‘naive’ before passing sentence. Sentencing will take place on Monday.
The teenager has been granted bail subject to stringent conditions.