Man accused of plotting Fife mosque attack told mum he had been 'stupid'

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

A man on trial for terrorism offences told his mother he had "done something stupid" by pretending to set fire to a mosque, a court has heard.

Sam Imrie is accused of preparing acts of terror, including planning an attack on an Islamic centre in Fife.

Prosecutors allege he intended to target the Fife Islamic Centre in Glenrothes and live-stream it online.

The 24-year-old denies all of the nine charges he is facing. Three of the charges come under the Terrorism Act.

• Man accused of plotting terror attack on Fife mosque

Giving evidence at the High Court in Edinburgh, the accused's mother, Joyce Imrie, 50, said that while passing her son on the stairs in the family home, he had told her: "Mum, I've done something really stupid, I pretended to set a mosque on fire."

Asked about her son's demeanour when he told her this, she replied: "Terror, despair. Despair is the best word I could use. I think he was probably horrified by himself."

Ms Imrie described her son as a "loner" and a "recluse".

'I'm taking a gun into a mosque'

Giving evidence, Police Scotland's Det Con Jonathan Leach, who works in counter-terrorism, told the court that Mr Imrie had been a member of a pro-fascist group on the messaging app Telegram.

Police had accessed a Telegram channel called "Fashwaveartists" with 279 members from various countries, whom DC Leach described as "potential fascists". Mr Imrie was one of its members.

They gathered 101 pages of exchanges on the app which included messages, images, videos and gifs, many of them posted by Mr Imrie.

The 24-year-old stated in the group: "All my heroes are mass murderers."

Mr Imrie also posted a photograph of a man holding a gun. There was a racial slur placed alongside the image.

Mr Imrie expressed support for Anders Bering Breivik, who killed 77 people in a terror attack in Norway ten years ago

In a post on 30 June 2019, the accused had written: "I'm taking a gun into a mosque."

In a follow-up post he said: "Ignore my autistic outbursts of anger."

The accused also expressed support for Brenton Tarrant, who murdered 51 people in an attack on a mosque in Christchurch, New Zealand, as well as Anders Breivik, who killed 77 people in a 2011 terror attack in Norway.

He later described Breivik as the "saviour of Europe", adding: "I hope to meet him one day."

Mr Imrie added that he had written to Breivik.

Among other charges, Mr Imrie has been accused of being in possession of neo-Nazi, anti-Semitic and anti-Muslim material and extreme pornography, including indecent images of children and an image involving a human corpse.

Mr Imrie is also charged with driving while under the influence of drugs and alcohol in July 2019.

The trial, before Lord Mulholland, continues.