Far-right cell member jailed for terror offences

Ryan Jackson has been jailed after pleading guilty to a series of terrorism and child abuse image offences

A man who was part of an online "far-right extremist cell" has been jailed for terrorism and child abuse image offences.

Ryan Jackson, 31, shared terrorist material on messaging app Telegram with members of a group called Oaken Hearth.

When officers searched his seized electronic devices they discovered more than 900 indecent images of children.

At Leeds Crown Court on Thursday, Jackson, of Knollbeck Crescent, Barnsley, was jailed for two years and six months.

He was also ordered to spend one year on licence and was made subject to a sexual harm prevention order.

Jackson was arrested in 2021 as part of a counter terrorism investigation into the online group, police said.

Its members used the app to exchange racist views, propaganda and terror manuals, while advocating the use of violence to further their cause, officers said.

Jackson was found to have collected terrorist publications and had shared "instructional material" with others.

'Real-world consequences'

He was charged in 2022 and admitted five counts of collecting or making a record of information of a kind likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism and one count of dissemination of a terrorist publication.

He also admitted three counts of making indecent photograph/pseudo-photographs of children, one count of possession of prohibited images of children and one count of possession of extreme pornographic images.

Six other members of the online group have already been convicted and sentenced to a combined total of more than 40 years imprisonment for terror and firearms offences.

Det Ch Supt James Dunkerley, head of Counter Terrorism Policing North East, said: “I am grateful to the officers in this case that have conducted a thorough investigation and ensured that Jackson has been brought to justice.

“This case demonstrates the seriousness of engaging in extremist behaviour online and the real-world consequences of doing so."

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