Teen fascist left trainer imprint on woman's face

Alex Hutton held extreme racist, transphobic and homophobic views, the Crown Prosecution Service says

A self-confessed fascist has been jailed for more than five years after leaving a trans woman with a trainer imprint on her face after he attacked her.

Alex Hutton, 19, left the victim hospitalised after using mixed martial arts moves on her, said the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS).

It said Hutton, from Morriston, Swansea, held extreme racist, transphobic and homophobic views.

Hutton, also known as Alex Edwards, appeared before Winchester Crown Court in Hampshire after pleading guilty to terror offences and an assault motivated by hostility toward the victim because she was trans.

He was sentenced to a total of five years and four months in custody, plus an extended sentence with a further five years on licence.

Hutton had previously been convicted of offences under the Terrorism Act and arrested last November.

The arrest came after South Wales Police received a report from a member of the public that they had seen a video on Hutton’s Instagram in which he claimed to have kicked an unidentified person in the head.

The video also contained far right imagery.

Hutton was subject to a Criminal Behaviour Order restricting his use of the internet and mobile phones after previous convictions for possessing terrorist documents and publishing statements that encouraged terrorism, the CPS said.

It added that police investigated his phone use and found he had distributed extreme videos encouraging and glorifying terrorism.

Hutton has been given a custodial sentence totalling five years and four months

There were references to "cleansing London" of non-white people and Islamophobic, anti-Semitic, homophobic and transphobic messages.

He shared Nazi extremism and racist videos from the Ku Klux Klan, and bragged about planning terrorist attacks, the CPS said.

He spread messages on Instagram and messaging app Telegram where he talked of wanting to kill anybody who was not white.

"Alex Hutton, motivated by hate, engaged in a horrendous and unprovoked attack on a defenceless young girl who was minding her own business one afternoon in a Swansea park in May 2023," said Counter Terrorism Policing Wales investigations chief Det Ch Insp Leanne Williams.

Hutton "celebrated terrorist acts of white supremacy and encouraged his friends... to join him in his extreme and disturbing views," says the CPS

"There is no doubt that the attack will have lasting effects on this young person and I really hope today’s outcome provides her with some comfort."

Hutton, she said, demonstrated a "clear intention" to spread his hatred across the internet encouraging acts of terrorism.

Bethan David, of the CPS, said Hutton was a "dangerous young man", adding that his "unprovoked attack was driven by hate and he poses a substantial risk to other groups and society as a whole".

"He celebrated terrorist acts of white supremacy and encouraged his friends and associates on various social media and messaging platforms to join him in his extreme and disturbing views," she added.