Man 'expressed wish to kill Jews', court hears

Jordan Richardson, of Oliver Close, Howden, has been charged with a terrorism offence

A man accused of planning a terror attack "regularly expressed a wish to kill Jews", a jury has been told.

Jordan Richardson, 21, of Oliver Close, Howden, East Yorkshire, has been charged with engaging in conduct in preparation of an act of terrorism between 1 August and 19 December last year.

During the prosecution's opening earlier, Leeds Crown Court was told he was arrested with a note that said: "Throw all grenades into crowd, shoot bystanders, stab anyone who comes close, do not get taken alive."

Mr Richardson has denied the offence and told officers when he was arrested: "I'm not a threat."

Prosecutor Katherine Robinson said another note included instructions about how to make mustard gas, while a crossbow and a knife had been found at his home.

She added the defendant had accessed material online which "shows his interest in and affiliation with extreme Islamist ideology," including "material depicting and glorifying terrorist actions".

"He regularly expressed a wish to kill Jews, for example using the terminology the pillagers, the big noses and the money," she said.

"He suggested going to Palestine to fight Jews and he's searched for how to volunteer for Hamas from the UK and how to get to Palestine.

"He made a joke about going into a synagogue in a suicide vest."

'Repeated desires'

Ms Robinson showed the jury videos she said had been shared by Mr Richardson on his Instagram accounts, including one with the handle Anglo Jihadi.

One of the videos shown in court was the beheading of American journalist James Foley by the British so-called Islamic State terrorist Mohammed Emwazi, known as "Jihadi John".

Some of the content was pixilated for the jury.

Ms Robinson said the defendant said he converted to Islam the day after Ramadan.

She said: "He repeated his desires to conduct jihad and kill infidels and identified himself as a terrorist."

The court heard Mr Richardson posted a video of the outside of Meadowhall shopping centre in Sheffield online, followed by clips of rainbows and dolphins overlaid with the words: "How life feels when you finally give up and just start killing people brutally."

Ms Robinson told the court: "The only possible intention in sharing that sort of material... was to encourage terrorist acts, in particular given he had discussed locations.

"The defendant was not simply a keyboard warrior or fantasist, but a person who was dangerously far down the road to carrying out terrorist acts."

The trial continues.

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