Ben John: Right-wing extremist gets suspended jail sentence

Ben John was convicted of possessing a copy of The Anarchist Cookbook

A right-wing extremist found guilty of possessing a bomb-making instruction manual has been given a suspended jail sentence.

Ben John, from Lincoln, was convicted of having a copy of The Anarchist Cookbook on a computer hard drive.

Lincolnshire Police described him as a "white supremacist with a neo-Nazi ideology".

At Leicester Crown Court, John, 21, of Addison Drive, received a 24-month sentence, suspended for two years.

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Lincolnshire Police said John had first come to the attention of counter-terrorism officers in 2018 after he wrote a letter entitled Eternal Front - Lincolnshire Fascist Underground.

He was arrested in January 2020, and later charged with offences under the Terrorism Act, including possessing documents on combat, homemade weapons and explosives.

The force said John had become part of the Extreme Right Wing (XRW) online - a term for activists who commit criminal activity motivated by a political or cultural view, such as racism or extreme nationalism.

He amassed 67,788 documents in bulk downloads onto hard drives, which contained a wealth of white supremacist and anti-Semitic material.

One of the hard drives was found hidden inside a sock when police searched his home, officers said.

He was convicted by a jury of one count of possessing information likely to be useful to a terrorist and cleared of six other counts of the same offence.

At his previous court appearance, Judge Timothy Spencer told John he was now "a convicted terrorist".

Det Insp James Manning, of Counter Terrorism Policing East Midlands, said: "This was a young man who could be anyone's son, studying at university, and living one life in public, while conducting another in private. 

"The terrorist material he was found in possession of is extremely dangerous, and he acquired this to further his ideology."