Extreme website host jailed for terror offences

Colin McNeil admitted running the websites which hosted extreme views

A website host who allowed videos that encouraged terrorism and mass shootings has been jailed.

Far-right extremist Colin McNeil, of Leeds, ran a social network and video site which would glorify murderers and share racist views, Sheffield Crown Court heard.

One subscriber was an American teenager who went on to kill 10 people in a mass shooting motivated by race in Buffalo, New York.

McNeil, 46, was handed an 11-year extended sentence after pleading guilty to four counts of distributing a terrorist publication with the intention of encouraging acts of terrorism.

The material on McNeil's two websites was described by the Recorder of Sheffield Judge Jeremy Richardson KC as "racist, antisemitic and violent in nature".

It included videos showing an attack at a mosque in Christchurch, New Zealand, in which 51 people were killed.

While most of the material was "hateful", some of it "related to terrorism".

One of the counts related to a document that was uploaded, written by a neo-Nazi which called for the "terrorist killing of non-white people in order to accelerate a race war", the judge added.

Another video, which formed a third count under the Terrorism Act, was a clip uploaded by Daniel Harris, who was found guilty of terrorism offences in 2022.

This video, which glorified the Christchurch killings, was linked to a race-incited shooting in the US.

White supremacist Payton Gendron said in a comment on the website that he agreed with another commenter who said they were now "committed to my race".

Gendron shot and killed 10 black people at a supermarket in New York state.

Payton Gendron, seen here being arrested following a mass shooting in Buffalo, was an active user on McNeil's website

The court heard how McNeil helped to run the site between 2019 and his arrest in March 2022.

Officers from Counter Terrorism Policing North East said when McNeil became aware of the material on the websites "he continued to play an active role in its administration" and share his own views.

More than 56,000 people subscribed to the site, with 14.6m combined views across all the videos.

The judge said McNeil was "on the autistic spectrum" but he continued to pose a high risk of serious harm to the public.

He accepted he pleaded guilty to the charges before evidence was heard in the trial.

McNeil, of Beeston Road, was handed a seven-year prison sentence with an extension of four years on licence.

"In your case, this was a dreadful example of dangerous, white supremacist nonsense with terrorist material as the grotesque admixture," the judge added.

Listen to highlights from West Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North or tell us a story you think we should be covering here.