Essex neo-Nazi jailed 13 years for plotting mass gun attack in undercover MI5 sting
Alfie Coleman, 22, from Great Notley in Essex, was sentenced to 13.5 years after MI5 caught him buying a pistol and ammunition in a Morrisons car park.
Essex neo-Nazi sentenced to 13.5 years over planned mass shooting
Alfie Coleman, 22, from Great Notley in Essex, has been jailed for 13 and a half years at the Old Bailey after being found guilty of preparing for a terrorist attack, The Independent reports. A further five years on extended licence was imposed. Judge Richard Marks KC ruled that Coleman must be treated as a "dangerous offender" and described his views as "virulently racist".
Coleman appeared tearful in court, wiping his eyes with a tissue as the judge delivered his remarks. He had claimed his extreme views were "no more than intrusive thoughts" and "did not represent what [he] believed in real life", and insisted he had no intention of carrying out an attack. The judge rejected those claims.
The conviction followed a retrial at the Old Bailey. Jurors heard that Coleman had written a "manifesto" in a diary and drawn up a list of potential targets including the Lord Mayor of London and a mosque. The former part-time Tesco worker also compiled a list of colleagues and customers, labelling some with racial slurs or as "race traitors".
Authorities first grew concerned in the summer of 2023, when Coleman became increasingly active in online extreme right-wing groups. Undercover officers from MI5 subsequently made contact with him through encrypted chat as he sought to acquire weapons.
On the morning of 29 September 2023, Coleman — then aged 19 — arranged to buy a Makarov pistol, five magazines and 200 rounds of ammunition from an undercover officer in a Morrisons car park in Stratford, east London. Jurors watched video footage of Coleman dropping £3,500 into a Land Rover Discovery and collecting a holdall containing the handgun and ammunition from the boot. Armed counterterrorism officers intercepted him before he had gone 30 yards, forcing him to the ground. He was still carrying his Tesco employee card.
A search of the home he shared with his parents and siblings revealed the full scope of his ideology. Officers found £2,500 in savings and a bug-detection device in his bedside drawer, a rock bearing a Swastika on a table, a Black Sun flag associated with neo-Nazism on the wall, and a range of extreme right-wing books. Among those he idolised was Thomas Mair, the extremist who murdered MP Jo Cox.
The court heard that Coleman was 14 when he first began seeking out extreme right-wing material online, including a neo-Nazi text he downloaded to his iPad.
Commander Helen Flanagan, head of Counter Terrorism Policing London, said after sentencing that it was "extremely concerning that such a young person was planning to murder innocent members of the public as part of an extreme right-wing terrorist plot." She added that the work of counterterrorism officers and MI5 colleagues had "prevented what could have been a real tragedy."
Flanagan highlighted Coleman's online radicalisation from the age of 14 as a particular concern. "Sadly we're seeing more and more examples of young people and children being drawn into violent extremism and terrorism this way," she said, urging parents and carers to be vigilant about their children's online activity and to use the government's ACT Early programme if concerned.
Coleman had admitted attempting to possess a firearm and ammunition but denied preparing for a terrorist attack. He had previously pleaded guilty to possessing ten documents containing information likely to be useful to a terrorist, including texts on weaponry and bomb-making instructions. Giving evidence, he described being lonely and struggling with his mental health during the Covid-19 lockdowns.
Source: The Independent