A man found with an ‘armoury’ including a crossbow and 14 knives has been found guilty of planning a terrorist attack on gay and transgender people.
Described in court as having ‘a neo-Nazi outlook’, Alan Edward, 54, amassed a collection of weaponry, including a crossbow with telescopic sights, 14 knives, some with Nazi and SS insignia, machetes, a tomahawk, a Samurai sword, knuckledusters, a catapult, an extendable baton and a stun gun, at his home in Redding, Stirlingshire.
Edward was found to have discussed attacking gay people in a series of ‘incredibly sinister’ WhatsApp messages with an associate and promoted the proscribed extreme right wing group National Action online.
Edward, who had nearly 28,000 followers on social media, denied the Holocaust, mocked the murder of George Floyd and railed against Jews, black people and gays.
The High Court in Stirling heard that Edward possessed and expressed ‘a set of ideals with a neo-Nazi outlook, incorporating notions of white supremacy, the notion of racial purity of whites, racism, anti-semitism, and hatred of homosexuals and transgender people.’
Prosecutor Paul Kearney KC, the advocate depute, said Edward was ‘a man who with clear neo-Nazi ideals preparing for an act of terrorism which would include an ideologically-driven incident of serious violence’.
The court heard that checks on his WhatsApp account found he had been messaging an associate in nearby Grangemouth – identified only as “Pello” – about a proposed attack on an LGBTQ+ group, which met in Falkirk.
In a series of exchanges described by the prosecution as ‘incredibly sinister’, he wrote: ‘They have been pushing their luck for years, now they will pay in blood.’
He added: ‘I hate them all I really do. Hunting time is nearly here, yayyy.
‘We should get masked up and go do a few of them in at their little gay club.’
A jury found Edward, guilty of four charges under the Terrorism Act – inviting support for a proscribed organisation; possession of weaponry, ammunition and equipment for the commission, preparation or instigation of terrorist acts, encouraging terrorism and circulating terrorist publications.
