Tesco neo-Nazi jailed 13.5 years for mass shooting plot and Makarov gun purchase

Alfie Coleman, 22, from Essex, was caught in an MI5 sting buying a pistol and ammunition to carry out a mass attack. He had drawn up a "kill list" of colleagues and customers.

Essex neo-Nazi caught in MI5 sting after plotting mass gun attack at Tesco

A neo-Nazi who compiled a "kill list" of colleagues and shoppers at his Tesco workplace and attempted to acquire weapons for a mass shooting has been sentenced to 13-and-a-half years in prison, Sky News reports.

Alfie Coleman, from the village of Great Notley in Essex, was 19 years old when counterterrorism officers intercepted him in a Morrisons car park in Stratford on 29 September 2023. He handed over £3,500 in cash — saved from his part-time supermarket job — and collected a holdall from the boot of a Land Rover Discovery containing a deactivated Makarov semi-automatic pistol, five magazines, and 200 rounds of ammunition.

Coleman had spent months unknowingly communicating with undercover MI5 agents on encrypted messaging apps. Video footage of the arrest shows him dropping to his knees and lying flat on the ground, being handcuffed in front of stunned shoppers seconds after leaving the cash in the vehicle's front passenger footwell.

Kill list named colleagues by car and appearance

The Old Bailey heard that Coleman had drawn up a list of individuals who had "upset him", which included their vehicle number plates. Several entries targeted former colleagues and customers he labelled "race traitors" for having partners who were not white. One entry identified a checkout worker whose husband was mixed race, noting the make and colour of her car and describing her physical appearance — "short blonde hair with bits of pink in it".

Prosecutors told the court that Coleman idolised Adolf Hitler and Thomas Mair, who murdered MP Jo Cox in a gun and knife attack in 2016. Counterterrorism officers said his attempt to acquire automatic weapons indicated he was planning a mass shooting, with possible targets including mosques.

A Metropolitan Police investigation established that Coleman had begun to be radicalised online at the age of 14.

Retrial returns guilty verdict on terror charge

Coleman, now 22, had previously pleaded guilty to attempting to possess a prohibited firearm and ammunition, along with ten counts of possessing material likely to be useful to a person preparing an act of terrorism. He denied plotting a terror attack, and a jury at his first trial failed to reach a verdict on that charge after Coleman told the court he was "embarrassed" and "cringing" about the views he had expressed. Following a retrial, he was found guilty of preparing acts of terrorism.

Sentencing Coleman at the Old Bailey, judge Richard Marks KC designated him a "dangerous offender" and described his views as "virulently racist". The judge acknowledged Coleman's claim that much of what he had said amounted to no more than intrusive thoughts — "hyperbole, bravado, fantasy" — but found the overall evidence warranted the dangerous offender classification. Coleman received 13-and-a-half years in custody, with a further five years on extended licence.

Met Police warns of online radicalisation trend

Commander Helen Flanagan, head of Counter Terrorism Policing London at the Metropolitan Police, said 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."

Flanagan said the case illustrated a pattern that officers are encountering with increasing frequency. "What is particularly concerning is that Coleman was radicalised online from when he was just 14 years old, and sadly we're seeing more and more examples of young people and children being drawn into violent extremism and terrorism this way," she said.

She urged parents and carers to monitor children's online activity and to contact Action Counters Terrorism (ACT) Early if they remained concerned, "so that they can be steered down a different path before it is too late."

Source: Sky News