A Wiltshire teenager has been convicted of a terrorism offence after saying he wanted to “shoot up a mosque” and planned on killing thousands of people.
The 17-year-old boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was sentenced to a 24-month referral order at Southampton Youth Court after pleading guilty to possessing material likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism.
The right-wing terrorist was arrested on 18 June last year and during a search of this home, officers uncovered a handwritten note called ‘The Big Plan’.
“This contained details of how to make a bomb, a number of named locations and individuals who were believed to be aspirational targets, and an intention to kill in excess of 10,000 people,” a spokesman for Counter Terrorism Policing South East (CTPSE) said.
They added: “Concerned member of the public reported the boy after he made numerous racist comments [online].
“[He] had talked about wanting to kill Muslims by ‘shooting up a mosque’.”
Detective Chief Superintendent Kath Barnes gave praise to people who had reported the behaviour to the anti-terrorism hotline.
She said: “I know this case may be concerning to certain members of the community who were the target of the atrocious hatred.
“We have seen an increase in the proportion of our investigations from the threat from extreme right-wing terrorism who wish to cause harm in our communities.
“We take that threat very seriously and this is why the whole of the counter terrorism community, as well as the whole of society, has a role to play in tackling it.”
The Assistant Chief Constable of Wiltshire Police, Deb Smith, said: “I hope that our communities feel reassured that we acted swiftly, in conjunction with our partners, to ensure that this individual was detained and could no longer pose a risk to the wider public.”
