Man accused of plotting terror attack on Fife mosque

Sam Imrie is accused of targeting the Fife Islamic Centre in Glenrothes

A man has gone on trial accused of preparing acts of terror, including planning an attack on an Islamic Centre in Fife.

Prosecutors allege Sam Imrie intended to target the Fife Islamic Centre in Glenrothes and live-stream footage of the attack on social media.

He is also accused of possessing an arsenal of weapons as well as Neo-Nazi, anti-Semitic and anti-Muslim material.

The 24-year-old denies all of the nine charges he is facing.

A total of three of the charges come under the Terrorism Act.

The High Court in Edinburgh heard how Mr Imrie allegedly posted messages online saying he planned to attack an Islamic place of worship.

Arsenal of weapons

He is said to have made the claim in messages which he posted on an internet platform called Telegram, as well as claiming he intended to "stream live footage" of an "incident".

Jurors heard that he also acquired knives, nunchucks, a hammer, a baseball bat, a rifle scope and a "quantity of petrol", which prosecutors believe he intended to use to commit acts of terrorism.

Mr Imrie is also said to have possessed copies of works called "The Great Replacement" by Brenton Tarrant and "2083 A European Declaration of Independence" by Anders Breivik.

The court later heard that Tarrant was responsible for carrying out shootings at mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, in March 2019 which resulted in the deaths of 51 people.

Prosecutors said he had the documents "in order to make a record of information of a kind likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism".

The jury heard that Mr Imrie possessed a quantity of "Nazi, neo-Nazi, anti-Muslim, anti-Semitic and other racist" texts, audio files and texts which "glorified terrorism".

He is also said to have driven to the Fife Islamic Centre in Poplar Road, Glenrothes, where he "carried out observations" while in possession of a can of petrol, before posting images of the mosque to Telegram.

One charge claims that Sam Imrie damaged a headstone at St Drostan's cemetery in Markinch by starting a fire

Jurors also heard a claim that he then went to St Drostan's cemetery in Markinch, Fife, and set fire to foliage which damaged a headstone.

Among other charges are that he took, or permitted to be taken or made, indecent photographs of children.

The court heard how detectives recovered weapons including nunchucks, a combat knife, an axe, a hammer, a rifle scope and a lock knife during a search of Mr Imrie's home in Glenrothes.

Prosecutor Lisa Gillespie QC said they also found a USB stick containing extreme porn.

A total of 99 indecent images of children were recovered from the USB stick, an iPhone and a laptop.

Extreme porn

She said six extreme pornographic images depicting, in an explicit and realistic way, sexual activity involving a human corpse, were recovered.

The jury heard how police officers took Mr Imrie's vehicle into their possession and searched it.

Officers found a petrol can in the front passenger footwell containing 1.65 litres of petrol. Officers also found a "small folding knife with firearm-style casing".

The following day, the Metropolitan Police accessed an "instant messaging" website called Telegram and a channel called @fashwaveartists.

Ms Gillespie said the channel had 278 members and was a "chat for users who enjoy fashwave to create and share their own artwork".

The advocate depute told the court that Mr Imrie had posted an image of the Fife Islamic Centre on the group.

She said that in a folder entitled "video comparison", there were copies of a video filmed by the accused at Main Street, Thornton, on 4 July 2019 and of part of a video filmed by Brenton Tarrant in Christchurch, New Zealand, on 15 March 2019."

The trial, before Lord Mulholland, continues.