A neo-Nazi teenager was snared by MI5 as he attempted to buy a gun for a terrorist attack, a court has heard.

Alfie Coleman was aged 19 when armed police swooped to arrest him outside a Morrisons supermarket in Stratford, east London, on September 29 2023.

Lunchtime shoppers bore witness to the “shocking scene” when three men pointed stun guns as Coleman as he walked across the car park carrying a bag, jurors heard on Wednesday.

Nicholas De La Poer KC said the bag contained what appeared to be a handgun and around 200 rounds of ammunition.

Counter-terrorism officers knew what he was carrying because “they had sold them to him”, the prosecutor said.

The arrest was the culmination of “persistent” efforts by Coleman to get hold of a gun, including contacting people online, the Old Bailey was told.

Mr De La Poer told jurors: “Unbeknownst to him, Mr Coleman had been talking to several undercover operatives over the previous months, as he sought to purchase a firearm via encrypted messaging platforms.

“This had culminated in MI5 undercover operatives agreeing to sell a firearm and the bullets to Mr Coleman. The arrangement made was for the supply of a Makarov pistol, five magazines and 200 rounds of ammunition.

“Mr Coleman was told these items would be in a Land Rover Discovery parked in the Morrisons car park. He left £3,500 in cash in the front passenger seat footwell and collected the bag containing the items from the boot.

“Before he had gone 30 yards, Mr Coleman was confronted by armed officers and he was arrested.”

The prosecutor said Coleman harboured an extreme right-wing ideology and was planning to use the gun in a terrorist attack.

He “idolised” the likes of Thomas Mair, who murdered MP Jo Cox, and believed in white supremacy and neo-Nazism, the court was told.

He collected a number of terrorist documents, carried out online research and wrote a manifesto, it was alleged.

Mr De La Poer said: “The prosecution’s case is that Mr Coleman engaged in conversation on encrypted social media platforms such as Wire and Telegram with people whom he thought were sympathetic to his views.

“And it was through such people that Mr Coleman sought to buy a firearm. A mission which led him to the Morrisons car park in Stratford on the morning of September 29.”

The court was told of an alleged earlier first attempt at writing down an attack plan dating back to June 2022, a week before he turned 18.

In it, Coleman allegedly identified his target as the “Mayor of London house” and included the postcode for the Lord Mayor’s residence, jurors heard.

In a section headed “weapons I can get easy”, he allegedly listed “knives” and “crossbows”, the court heard.

In September 2022, Coleman allegedly wrote a list on his phone with offensive language next to a number of vehicle number plates.

Jurors were told Coleman was working at Tesco at the time and however he presented himself at work was “seething with hatred on the inside”.

Mr De La Poer said the phrase “race traitor” was written beside some of the number plates, including that of a white female co-worker.

The court heard Coleman had pleaded guilty to possession of 10 documents useful to terrorists, attempting to possess both a firearm – which had been deactivated – and ammunition.

Coleman, now aged 21, of Great Notley in Essex, has denied preparing acts of terrorism.

The Old Bailey trial continues.

Counter-terrorism police are investigating an online claim by a suspected terror group taking responsibility for the attack on four Jewish community ambulances.

A Telegram post from Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamia in which it claims to be behind the arson has circulated online and was shown to the Press Association by a member of the Jewish community at the scene in Golders Green, north-west London.

An unverified video posted at 6.13am on Monday on its Telegram channel showed street view Google Maps images of the ambulances and footage of explosions.

At the start of the video posted on Telegram, a message in English said the group’s primary target was the Machzike Hadath Synagogue due to its links to Israel.

The post also cited Conservative former prime minister Rishi Sunak’s visit to the synagogue during the election campaign in June 2024 to express “his country’s unwavering support for Israel”.

Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamia, which translates to the Islamic Movement of the Companions of the Right, is a new terrorism group with suspected links to pro-Iranian networks, according to Israel’s Ministry for Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism.

The group previously claimed responsibility for several attacks on Jewish sites in Belgium and the Netherlands between March 9 and March 14, according to the Israeli ministry.

They included an explosive attack at a synagogue in Liege, Belgium, an arson attack on a Rotterdam synagogue and an explosive device set off at a Jewish school in Amsterdam.

The group’s Telegram channel, which was apparently only created on Saturday, also includes a video of an attack in Amsterdam targeting an American bank.

Harakat Ashab al-Yamin was also suspected to be linked to an attack at a Jewish site in Greece, according to the Israeli diaspora ministry.

Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs posted on X on March 15 that “a jihadi group tied to an Iranian proxy” was responsible for the attacks.

It said “the IRGC continues to sponsor and export terror across the globe”.

Earlier in March, the Israeli diaspora ministry released a report which said the attacks appear to be part of intimidation and psychological warfare against Jewish communities in Europe.

Diaspora affairs and combating antisemitism minister Amichai Chikli was quoted by The Times of Israel and others as saying: “The recent events in Europe are not isolated incidents but part of a disturbing pattern of action: Terrorist networks affiliated with the Iranian axis are trying to expand their arena of operation into the cities and Jewish communities of Europe.”

The report also said that the group operates through local cells or individuals who are directed from abroad.

It highlighted that the organisation’s name is similar to one used by the Iraqi militia Harakat Ansar Allah al-Awfiya, which was described as a terrorist organisation by the US State Department.

The group’s logo also closely resembles the symbols used by Iranian-aligned militant groups, according to The Times of Israel.

Metropolitan Police Detective Chief Superintendent Luke Williams said: “We are aware of an online claim from a group taking responsibility for this attack.

“Establishing the authenticity and accuracy of this claim will be a priority for the investigation team but it is not something we can confirm at this point.”

A woman accused of expressing support for Hamas told a crowd the proscribed organisation is “fighting for freedom”, a court has heard.

On Monday, Bristol Crown Court heard Kwabena Devonish, 27, is alleged to have said she was “sick” of “being told to condemn Hamas”.

Devonish is accused of having expressed an opinion or belief in support of the proscribed organisation during a speech in November 2023.

The court heard Devonish had attended a march in Cardiff and addressed a crowd gathered at Ty William Morgan in Central Square.

Devonish was arrested in January 2024 after a video of the speech was posted on social media.

In a video played to the jury, Devonish said: “I would never condemn the resistance of Palestinians because their resistance is due to the occupation.

“So, if you want to talk about violence, if you want to talk about atrocities, then point the finger to the state of Israel.

“I am sick of being told to condemn Hamas, when Hamas are fighting for freedom, Hamas are fighting for the people.”

The court heard the march took place on November 11 2023 and was attended by about 500 people.

Diana Wilson, prosecuting, said: “There is no dispute this is Miss Devonish (in the video) and she is addressing a crowd, likely at the end of the march.”

Devonish, of Pentrebane, Cardiff, is charged with expressing an opinion or belief that is supportive of a proscribed organisation, namely Hamas, contrary to the Terrorism Act 2000.

The trial continues.

A man who scrawled “kill jews” on a cell wall with crayons after he was arrested for stuffing Korans down a hospital toilet has been found guilty of hate crimes, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has said.

Ibhraim Iqbal, 36, from Leeds, was found guilty of two counts of religiously aggravated criminal damage and another count of criminal damage at Leeds District Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday, the CPS confirmed.

The CPS said the conviction comes as prosecutors deal with a record number of hate crime referrals.

A spokesman said Iqbal smashed a framed Islamic scripture before defacing multiple Korans in a multi-faith room at St James’s Hospital in Leeds, in November last year.

He tore out pages, setting them alight and using them to block the sink and toilet.

Iqbal then returned to the hospital two weeks later and deliberately stuffed items down the drains to cause a blockage, the spokesman said.

He was detained by hospital security staff when he returned the following day and attempted to access the multi-faith room again but found it locked due to the earlier damage.

After he was arrested, he asked for crayons and used them to write the “kill Jews” on his cell wall, the spokesman said.

Iqbal will be sentenced at the same court on February 16.

Senior Crown Prosecutor for CPS Yorkshire and Humberside Luke Hopkinson said: “Ibhraim Iqbal carried out a deliberate and sustained campaign of hatred, targeting both Muslim and Jewish communities with his actions.

“This comes at a time where our prosecutors are working on the highest ever number of hate crime cases referred to us by police.

“I hope today’s conviction demonstrates the CPS’s commitment to tackling religiously aggravated hate crime, and reiterate how we will always seek to prosecute those who target others because of their faith where their conduct strays into criminality.”

The CPS said data for July to September 2025 showed it received 4,358 cases from police which have been flagged as having a hate crime element, which is a 14.7% increase on the previous quarter, and 2.8% up on the same period in 2024.

The jury has been sent out to consider verdicts in the trial of a 16-year-old boy accused of planning a terror attack on local synagogues.

Counter terror police found what Leeds Crown Court heard was an “arsenal” of weapons, including a crossbow and knives, when they raided the teenager’s home in Northumberland last February.

The defendant, who cannot be identified due to his age, denies preparing acts of terrorism, being a member of a proscribed organisation – a neo-Nazi group called The Base – as well as possessing and publishing terror documents.

The jury has seen images of his bedroom, including a replica of an SS officer’s cap, a flag of Rhodesia and a skeleton in a mask.

They have also been shown online messages with members of white supremacist groups and violent journal entries.

The jury has heard how the youth watched a video of the New Zealand mosque terror attack then looked up synagogues in the Newcastle area.

Michelle Heeley KC, prosecuting, has previously told the jury: “He communicated with others about his desire for action and he had carried out numerous preparatory steps towards carrying out those threats.”

Frida Hussain KC, defending, said the boy was “desperately lonely” and had been “plagued” with thoughts of killing himself and created an online persona as a distraction.

During the trial, Miss Hussain asked him: “Writing in these terms about harming other people, was this anything you wanted to do in reality?”

The defendant replied: “Just thoughts in my head. I never intended to harm anyone.”

Mr Justice Wall sent the jury out to consider their verdicts on Monday morning.

A man has been found guilty of travelling to Syria to fight with a terrorist group linked to al Qaida for jihad.

Isa Giga, 32, resigned from his job as a technical support consultant job at a technology firm and bought a business class return flight to Turkey before crossing into war-torn Syria in August 2015.

Despite pleas from his family, Giga did not return to the UK for nine years and was arrested upon his arrival on a flight from Turkey last May.

Following a trial at the Old Bailey, he was found guilty of preparation of terrorist acts between August 31 2015 and August 31 2016 by travelling to Syria to fight with the Jaysh Al Fath groups.

The court heard how Giga had left the home he shared with his parents and sister in Hounslow, west London, in August 2015 and informed them he had gone to Syria for jihad.

On September 11 2015 – the anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks in the United States – he told his sister: “I have come here to fight for jihad. I’m based in Idlib province and I fight for Jaysh al Fath which is the rebel coalition which includes the Free Syrian Army up to al Qaida-linked groups.

“I have come here to fight against (Bashar) Assad and also to fight against Isis. I can’t sit at home when fellow Muslims are in need and their religion is in danger.”

His father responded: “Please don’t do anything that will break my or your mother’s or family’s heart, stay within the bounds of true Islam and humanity, stay away from extremism and follow the Sunnah.”

But in a further message to his sister, Giga said he had finished his training and had been given the “opportunity to fight on the front line in the near future”.

He told her: “I hope more than anything to gain martyrdom while fighting against Isis or against the Assad regime but I fear death as much as anyone else so I am in need of your duas (prayers).”

The court heard that Giga’s father did everything he could to try to convince his son to return home and travelled to Reyhanli, a small Turkish town close to the Syrian border.

In a letter to Giga from the border, he wrote: “I have promısed your mum that somehow I will try my best to convince you to come out of there, and we will settle down anywhere in this world where you feel comfortable and happy…

“Can you for one minute imagine what the rest of her life will be like if something was to happen to you? Isa, her life wıll be destroyed and so will all of ours.

“It is on that basis I beg you to stay safe and come out of there immediately. And stay away from the front line because the Russians are using all kınds of firepower.”

However, Giga appeared to be set on “martyrdom”, the court heard.

Then in December 2015, Giga told his sister that he planned on doing charity work – although the organisation concerned had no record of it – and by August 2016 contact with his family petered out.

Eight years later, Giga was issued an emergency passport by the British Consulate in Istanbul.

Police were waiting when Giga arrived at Heathrow Airport on a Turkish Airlines flight on May 23 2024.

Following his arrest, Giga made no comment in police interviews but in a prepared statement denied he had travelled to Syria to fight or join any groups.

He claimed he had lied to his family about doing charity work, training, fighting and joining groups because he thought they would struggle to understand the idea of going there simply to live.

Giving evidence in his Old Bailey trial, Giga maintained that he had gone to Syria only to live in an Islamic state.

A jury deliberated for 10 hours and 26 minutes to reject his version of events and find him guilty by a majority of 11 to one.

Judge Mark Lucraft KC ordered a report and adjourned sentencing to October 17.

Commander Dominic Murphy, head of the Met’s Counter Terrorism Command, said: “We have been clear for some time now that anyone returning to the UK suspected of being involved in any terrorist-related activity overseas will be thoroughly investigated.

“We work very closely with other partners and agencies here in the UK and overseas in order to do this and help keep the public safe.

“As this case shows, we will always arrest those who return to the UK after fighting for a terrorist group, no matter how long it has been since they left the country.”

A Muslim convert who researched military locations and threatened to “flatten” a mosque in a terror attack has been jailed for life with a minimum term of 16 years.

Jason Savage was found guilty in January of plotting to stab an Islamic cleric who was an outspoken critic of terrorism, after jurors were shown footage of him filming a reconnaissance “mission” near a mosque and Islamic bookstore.

The 35-year-old, of Fourth Avenue, Small Heath, Birmingham, was jailed at the city’s Crown Court on Friday after a judge said messages he had sent showed that he believed he would die while committing a terrorist attack.

Passing sentence on Savage, High Court Judge Mrs Justice Farbey said she was sure the defendant had identified the police and military as targets but that his “primary focus” was the Birmingham-based cleric.

The judge told Savage, who suffers from an emotionally unstable personality disorder: “I am sure that you were actively planning an Isis-inspired lone wolf attack, meaning that you were not a member of Isis but were motivated to carry out a violent attack by yourself.

“I am sure that you were ready and willing to carry out a deadly attack by using a knife.”

The judge said the offending in the case was so serious that a life sentence was required, adding: “I accept you may not always be able to exercise appropriate judgement in the heat of the moment, however your offending took place over a number of days and cannot be described as impulsive.”

Video footage released by West Midlands Police after Savage was convicted showed him filming reconnaissance near a mosque in Wright Street, Small Heath, Birmingham, in March last year.

On the video, Savage recorded himself saying: “That seems like the best way to get away – the police will probably come from that way.”

As well as charting different routes into the mosque, Savage, who had adapted the handle of a knife found at his home, was heard to say: “Just needs the means now.

“Ask Allah to give man the means bro.”

A three-week trial was told Savage was arrested shortly after sending online messages to someone he did not know was an undercover officer, saying he was waiting to see what “opportunities come to present itself”.

Jurors also heard that Savage had taken screenshots of the West Midlands Police headquarters, police stations in Perry Barr and Stechford and various military locations in Birmingham, and told the undercover officer he was putting his neck on a “chopping block”.

Prosecutors said Savage, who converted to Islam in 2012, carried out reconnaissance with a view to attacking a cleric, bookstore and mosque in the Small Heath area, whose approach to the Salafi movement was “entirely at odds” with his own.

The mosque, store and publishing house advocated a strand of Salafism that stresses the importance of non-involvement in social or political activism, the court heard, while the cleric was an “outspoken critic” of Islamist terrorism, arguing that it was entirely incompatible with the true essence of Islam.

At some point in early 2024, the trial heard, Savage broke the handle off a kitchen knife and replaced it with cloth, before changing his social media status to “Lone Wolf”.

Shortly before his arrest, Savage had messaged the undercover officer, referring to seeing him in “paradise” and telling him he would send him videos over the “next couple of days” which he asked be “propagated” to reach the right people.

Savage, who was convicted of a single count of engaging in conduct in preparation for terrorist acts on or before March 14 last year, said “no problem” as he was led away to the cells.

The sentencing judge was told his criminal history started with a 2002 arson conviction, when he was aged 12, before convictions for 20 other offences, including a violent armed robbery.

Prosecutor Peter Ratliff said Savage had in the past set fire to furniture in his cell and posted social media messages saying he was delighted to hear prison staff had been “stabbed up” after what he claimed was a plot against Muslim inmates.

Savage has also been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder following childhood trauma, the court was told.

Commenting on the case, Bethan David, head of the Counter Terrorism Division of the Crown Prosecution Service, said: “Jason Savage actively plotted to attack a cleric whose views he disagreed with, and other people.

“The CPS will continue to work to ensure those that plan to commit violent acts in the name of ideology and extremism are prosecuted.”

An alleged neo-Nazi youth accused of planning a terrorist attack on synagogues faces a trial next year.

The 15-year-old boy, from Northumberland, is charged with engaging in conduct in preparation for committing acts of terrorism, contrary to Section 5 of the Terrorism Act 2006.

It is alleged he began to discuss planning a terrorist attack with an unidentified individual earlier this year.

He acquired equipment and weapons including a crossbow that were purchased online in 2024 and had downloaded extremist manuals, it is claimed.

Among items allegedly found at his home were nails tied together with duct tape, a life-size skeleton covered in body armour, and Nazi memorabilia.

The boy is also charged with one count of membership of a proscribed organisation, contrary to Section 11 of the Terrorism Act 2000.

The Base, an extreme right-wing white supremacist group, was proscribed as a terrorist organisation by the Home Office in July 2021.

The teenager was arrested as part of a pre-planned, intelligence-led operation on Thursday February 20.

On Friday, he appeared at the Old Bailey for a preliminary hearing before Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb.

He spoke to confirm his identity by video-link from HMP Wetherby in West Yorkshire.

Prosecutor Birgitte Hagem told the court the charges relate to alleged plans to attack local synagogues and a phone mast.

A provisional trial was set for January 13 at Leeds Crown Court, with a plea hearing on July 18 this year at the Old Bailey.

The defendant, who cannot be identified because of his age, was remanded back into custody.

Violent videos which Southport killer Axel Rudakubana watched are still online after the Government asked social media companies for them to be removed, Yvette Cooper has said.

The Home Secretary wrote to Elon Musk’s X, Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta, TikTok, Google and YouTube in late January calling on them to “urgently review” material accessed by Rudakubana.

Speaking to the BBC’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg programme, Ms Cooper claimed material remains online despite her calls for it to be removed.

She told the BBC: “There has been some further contact with some of the social media companies, but our understanding is that many of those materials… that material is still available online.

“I think, frankly, that is disgraceful, because I think they have a moral responsibility to act.”

Under the UK’s Online Safety Act, from March platforms will be required to remove illegal content, including violent material.

Ms Cooper said the Government is willing to go further if social media giants do not comply.

She said: “We need to bring in the requirements to make sure we’ve got those legal powers in place and we will implement that.

“We are being clear that we are prepared to go further if the Online Safety Act measures are not working as effectively as we need them to do.”

Ms Cooper previously warned failing to remove the videos from social media could lead to further attacks like that carried out by Rudakubana.

The 18-year-old was jailed for life with a minimum term of 52 years after pleading guilty to murdering Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, Bebe King, six, and Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, at a dance class in Southport last July.

He also admitted attempting to murder eight other children and two adults, possession of a knife, production of a biological toxin, ricin, and possessing information likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing to commit an act of terrorism.

Before leaving home, he had searched online for “Mar Mari Emmanuel stabbing” – the knife attack on a bishop in Sydney, Australia, in April last year.

The graphic video was removed in Australia but is still available to view in the UK, Ms Cooper and Science Secretary Peter Kyle said in a letter to the tech bosses.

Rudakubana also had a PDF file entitled Military Studies In The Jihad Against The Tyrants, The Al Qaeda Training Manual, which led to him facing the charge under Section 58 of the Terrorism Act 2000.

The ministers warned the killer had been able to easily obtain this document online and it “continues to remain available”.

The Charity Commission has found a Brighton mosque to be “poorly managed” and disqualified a trustee during an inquiry sparked after a former trustee was convicted of encouraging terrorism.

The regulator opened the probe into Brighton Mosque and Muslim Community Centre, locally known as Dyke Road Mosque, in August 2022 over concerns of failures to resolve an undisclosed dispute that was found to have damaged the charity’s management.

The row came after former trustee Abubaker Deghayes was convicted for encouraging violent jihad in a speech to around 50 people including children at the mosque on November 1 2020.

At least one trustee was also present at the speech after evening prayers, the Charity Commission said, who did not intervene or attempt to minimise the impact of the content of Deghayes’s actions.

Deghayes, of Saldean, East Sussex, was jailed for four years at the Old Bailey in April 2022.

In inquiry findings published on Wednesday, it concluded the charity was “poorly managed” and there was “misconduct and/or mismanagement in the administration of it”.

The regulator added: “The Commission’s intervention and the appointment of the interim manager were necessary to restore proper governance and administration to the charity.

“A new board of trustees have been appointed to run the charity, which the interim manager identified after a full and thorough recruitment exercise.”

The interim manager took control of the charity’s finances, including cash donations of more than £17,000.

The inquiry also disqualified former trustee Karim Aboutayab on July 10 last year, for four years and six months after finding he had a “greater culpability” for the mismanagement discovered in the charity’s affairs.

This included using an “inflammatory” tone towards others which contributed to the dispute’s escalation, and failing to file the charity’s annual accounts on time.

The Charity Commission first assessed concerns at the charity after Deghayes was charged for encouraging terrorism in July 2021, and

later issued an official warning after deciding then-trustees knew or should have known about the risk he posed, in May 2022.

Head of inspections at the regulator Joshua Farbridge said: “Abusing a charity to encourage terrorism is a grave breach of public trust and we expect all trustees to take steps to ensure their charities cannot become safe havens for terrorist or extremist views.

“While the earlier criminal conviction was outside the scope of our inquiry, what occurred at Brighton Mosque and Muslim Community Centre demonstrates how serious disputes within a charity can not only severely impact its running and reputation, but leave a charity unprotected from the risk of exploitation by those with malign intentions.”

Brighton Mosque and Muslim Community Centre has been contacted for comment.