Luke Skelton: Jury fails to reach verdict on Wearside student accused of terror plot

Newcastle's Forth Banks police station was a potential target, the jury heard

A jury has failed to reach a verdict on a college student accused of plotting to blow up a police station.

Luke Skelton, who was said to have racist, sexist, homophobic, anti-Semitic and Islamophobic views, was accused of preparing to commit acts of terrorism in the year to October 2021.

After seven hours of deliberation, a jury at Teesside Crown Court failed to reach a verdict on the single charge.

Mr Skelton, 18, from Oxclose, Washington, could now face a retrial.

The jury at Teesside Crown Court was discharged from deliberating after seven hours.

The prosecution claimed the Gateshead College student took photos of Forth Banks police station in Newcastle last September to carry out "hostile reconnaissance".

He was said to be a right-wing extremist who idolised Adolf Hitler, approved of the mass murder of Muslims in Christchurch, New Zealand, researched how to make explosives and had written a "final note".

Mr Skelton, who has autism, said in his defence that he was "embarrassed and ashamed" of the views he expressed last year and insisted he had no intention of carrying out acts of terrorism.

'Great deal of attention'

Police found neo-Nazi material that Mr Skelton had downloaded on to his computer, but he said he was "pushing boundaries" by having it and told the jury: "I was being an idiot."

The court heard he had been referred to the government's anti-terror Prevent programme. He had eight sessions with a caseworker before he disengaged with it, when he turned 18.

Judge Paul Watson QC praised the jury for their close consideration of the trial when he discharged them from deliberating further.

He said: "You have clearly given this case a great deal of attention and I am grateful to you for it."

The prosecution was given until Thursday to decide whether to ask for a retrial.