Neo-Nazi with home 'armoury' jailed for 10 years

An extremist who amassed an "armoury" at his home and discussed launching an attack on a local LGBT group has been jailed for 10 years.

A court heard Alan Edward, 55, from Falkirk who had nearly 28,000 followers on social media, believed in white supremacy and openly expressed racist, homophobic and anti-Semitic views.

He denied all the offences, but a jury found him guilty of charges under the Terrorism Act, racism, anti-semitism, holocaust denial and breach of the peace.

Edward will also be supervised for five years following his release, and monitored for 30 years under the terms of the Terrorism Act.

Judge Fiona Tait told Edward: "The author of the risk assessment on you assesses you at high risk of re-offending.

"For such serious offences there is no appropriate alternative to a prison sentence.

"It is necessary to punish you and deter you and others from engaging in activities for the purposes of terrorism and to protect the public from you."

Edward appeared via video-link from prison where he had been on remand since September 2022.

He was arrested after armed police surrounded his end-terrace house in Redding, Falkirk, in September 2022 and broke down his front door.

A trial heard that Edward wrote the "the quickest way to someone's heart is with a high power 7.62mm round".

Police found weapons and equipment including a crossbow, 14 knives including some with Nazi and SS insignia, machetes, a tomahawk, a samurai sword, knuckledusters, a catapult, an extendable baton and a stun gun.

They also found an air pistol, an SS-style skull mask, goggles and a respirator, fighting gloves with hardened knuckles, pellets, ball bearings, and hunting tips for crossbow arrows.

Prosecutors said it amounted to "an armoury" of weapons.

Edward also had an indoor cannabis plantation that he was growing to sell.

The court heard he possessed and expressed "a set of ideals with a neo-Nazi outlook, incorporating notions of white supremacy, the notion of racial purity of whites, racism, anti-semitism, and hatred of homosexuals and transgender people".

A document found on his computer referred to Norweigian neo-Nazi mass murderer Anders Breivik as "Saint Anders".

Checks on his WhatsApp account found he had been messaging an associate in nearby Grangemouth about the proposed attack on an LGBT group.

In a series of exchanges described by the prosecution as "incredibly sinister", he said: "They have been pushing their luck for years, now they will pay in blood."

He added: "We should get masked up and go do a few of them in at their little gay club."

Other messages targeted communists and Jewish people.

The court also heard that Edward had two accounts on Gab, a social media platform popular with the far right.

He came to the attention of counter-terrorism investigators after posting a video of a National Action rally held in 2016 - shortly before it became the first far-right group to be proscribed in the UK under the Terrorism Act.

Prosecutor Paul Kearney KC said Edward was "a man who with clear neo-Nazi ideals - preparing for an act of terrorism which would include an ideologically-driven incident of serious violence".

Det Supt Stephen Clark, Police Scotland's head of counter terrorism investigations, said: "Edward shared extreme racist and homophobic content online with the aim of stirring up hatred and spreading fear and alarm.

"His complete disregard for the corrosive impact this could have on our communities heightened these dangerous actions.

"It is entirely unacceptable to promote terrorism or extremism, and this conviction displays how we will not hesitate to investigate online or offline behaviour which breaches terrorism or other criminal legislation.

"Holding an array of weaponry posed a clear and significant risk to the public which underlines the importance of him being brought to justice."