Terror-accused student 'wanted a full-on war'

Forth Banks station in Newcastle was a potential target, Teesside Crown Court heard

A would-be terrorist hatched plans for a "full-on war" and wrote recipes for a bomb intended for use on a police station, a jury heard.

Student Luke Skelton wanted to run a violent group and attack "rape gangs", Teesside Crown Court was told.

The 18-year-old, who was arrested in October, is alleged to have held an extreme right-wing ideology.

Mr Skelton, of Washington, Tyne and Wear, denies preparing to commit terrorist acts.

The jury heard details of comments made online, in text messages and in handwritten notes found at his home.

Det Con Melanie Clarke, from North East Counter Terrorism Policing, read out excerpts in which the defendant said he wanted to protect "white girls" by targeting "rape gangs".

The jury heard the Gateshead College student had written: "I've got all the equipment I need to hunt down the gangs…I want a full on war."

It was also said he wrote that he wanted "a chat with a drag queen…involving a knife".

Viable device

The court was told Mr Skelton devised recipes for explosives, including "nails and ball bearings" and a named chemical "for [a] faster boom."

Sarah Wilson, a forensic explosives expert at the government's Porton Down laboratories, told the jury a viable device could be made from the ingredients.

"This list is the basic building blocks of an improvised explosive device but it does lack detail of how you would construct that," she said.

The jury heard that in September photographs and data from the defendant's mobile phone suggested he had carried out a "reconnaissance" trip at police stations, including Forth Banks in Newcastle.

He had been referred to the Prevent anti-terror programme but grew angry at attempts to put him on the "right path", and in the weeks before his arrest had refused to take part in a similar programme, the court heard.

He was arrested in October when items including his phone, hand-written bomb recipes, drawings of guns and a black balaclava were seized.

He made no comment to all questions in a subsequent police interview.

The trial continues.