Alex Edwards, a 19-year-old far-right extremist, has been jailed for more than five years for kicking a trans woman in the head.
The teen from Swansea was sentenced at Winchester Crown Court for causing actual bodily harm, disseminating terrorist material and having a bladed article in a public place.
Edwards and another man attacked the trans woman at a park in Swansea on 20 May last year. Catherine Farrelly KC, prosecuting, told the court Edwards made transphobic comments towards the victim, who is a university student. The victim threw a can of drink at the two attackers, before being kicked in the head. Farrelly said: “She responded to that by saying: ‘You have to try a lot harder than that.’ The defendant responded by kicking her with force a number of times.”
The prosecutor said the victim was treated in hospital for her injuries, including an imprint of the defendant’s shoe on her face.
She said that the defendant later boasted on social media about the attack, posting: “Still loving my switch kick,” with a laughing face emoji.
He also posted: “Best day ever.”
Judge Parker KC told Edwards: “It’s quite clear that you appear to have blurred the distinction between holding and expressing legitimate political views and enforcing doctrines through acts of extreme violence.”
He said Edwards had a “significant lack of empathy for others” and told him: “In my judgment, you are somebody who now poses a significant risk of harm and you are, in the statutory definition, dangerous.
“You have an entrenched mindset of hatred towards others.”
