'Neo-Nazi' teen 'listed terror attack targets'

The boy is on trial at Manchester Crown Court

A teenage neo-Nazi who described himself as a "natural sadist" listed targets for a terror attack in his own "guerrilla warfare" manual, a court heard.

The 16-year-old boy, from Durham, denies six terrorism offences.

He listed "means of attack" and "areas to attack" in the self-written manual, Manchester Crown Court heard.

Prosecutors said the boy also marked Adolf Hitler's birthday by calling him "a brave man to say the least".

Michelle Nelson QC, prosecuting, said that since about 2016 the boy had been "an adherent of a right-wing ideology" but "by late 2017 his view had hardened and he became an adherent of neo-Nazism".

In the course of internet searches, he looked for locations of synagogues and wrote of planning to conduct an arson spree targeting synagogues in the Durham area using Molotov cocktails, she told the jury.

The boy, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, also visited websites on firearms, searched for knives and explosives, and was in communication with a gun auctioneer, Ms Nelson said.

'Just for a laugh'

She told the court a handwritten note by the youth showed him taking on the ideology of "occult Nazism".

Among diary entries he wrote: "In journal format I hope to record events from now all the way to the inevitable race war."

The court heard he came to the attention of police in 2017 for racist tweets, but later continued searching for material on "lone wolf" attacks and beheading videos despite telling detectives his Twitter activity was just "for a laugh".

Jurors were told that in October 2018, he wrote: "I would consider myself a natural sadist.

"Seeing weak people suffer and feel genuine fear fills me with a type of glee… Sadism makes me feel euphoria."

Marking Hitler's birthday in a diary entry, the boy said the Nazi dictator was a "brave man to say the least … I one day hope to follow in his footsteps", the jury heard.

Jurors were told the boy's ideology was "wedded to the idea of accelerationism, that calls for the acceleration of the demise of liberal democracy… and that demise brought about by acts of violence".

The defendant denies preparing acts of terrorism, disseminating a terrorist publication, possessing an article for a terrorist purpose, and three counts of possessing terrorist documents.

The trial continues.