Neo-Nazi who planned gun attack jailed after MI5 sting

A neo-Nazi who was plotting a gun attack has been jailed for 13 and a half years after being caught in an MI5 sting.

Agents lured Alfie Coleman, 22, to a car park in east London and swooped on him as he collected a Makarov pistol and 200 rounds of ammunition in September 2023.

The supermarket worker, from Great Notley in Essex, was described in court as a "militant accelerationist" who had been radicalised online from the age of 14.

He was convicted of preparing terrorist acts at the Old Bailey in April, where jurors heard he had dreamed of fighting a race war.

Judge Richard Marks KC described Coleman's views as "virulently racist" and branded him a "dangerous offender".

"Your age, immaturity, autistic spectrum disorder traits, anxiety, vulnerability, lack of previous convictions and the absence of actual physical harm caused by you all in my judgment weigh heavily against a discretionary life sentence," the judge told the defendant.

Coleman appeared tearful and wiped his eyes with a tissue as the judge made his remarks.

The sting operation involved undercover agents engaging with him on the encrypted messaging app Telegram, where he was seeking to buy a firearm.

Jurors at the trial saw dramatic footage of Coleman dropping £3,500 in a Land Rover and picking up a holdall containing the handgun and ammunition from the boot in a Morrisons car park in Stratford on 23 September 2023.

Moments later, Coleman was confronted by armed counter-terrorism police and lay on the ground.

Investigators later found a "manifesto" in his diary, where potential targets for an attack included the Lord Mayor of London and a mosque.

Prosecutor Nicholas de la Poer KC said that two days before Coleman was due to pick up the Makarov, he wrote: "Something has gotta be done, how long can we sit here and talk over the internet?"

The same day, Coleman went online and ordered a Gerber Strongarm knife with a 4.8in (12cm) blade.

He first began trawling the internet for extreme right-wing material aged 14, downloading a neo-Nazi text to his iPad.

Authorities noticed his extreme views as he became increasingly active in far-right online groups in summer 2023, and Coleman pieced together a plan to attack a mosque in France, which was later abandoned.

A search of the home he shared with his parents in Tailors Close revealed the extent of Coleman's murderous ideology, including idolising Thomas Mair - the extremist who murdered Labour MP Jo Cox in 2016.

Police found a device to detect bugs and secret cameras in his bedside drawer, a rock with a swastika on it on a table, a black sun flag – associated with neo-Nazism – on the wall and knives.

His "manifesto" also drew inspiration from several extremist mass killers, including US church mass murderer Dylann Roof, who he regarded as "warriors".

Giving evidence, Coleman described being lonely and suffering with his mental health during the Covid-19 lockdowns.

In pre-sentence reports, probation officers deemed him as "posing a high risk of serious harm to the public" and found it unlikely "his feelings, which were evidently quite deeply rooted, would change completely", the court heard.

Coleman had admitted attempting to possess both a firearm and ammunition, but denied he was preparing for a terrorist attack.

He had pleaded guilty to possessing 10 documents with information likely to be useful to terrorists such as texts on weaponry and bomb-making instructions.

Mitigating, defence counsel Martin Rutherford KC told the judge: "Alfie Coleman is not a young man without potential.

"Intelligent, articulate and polite — all of those things apply to him — but the reality is his obsessive personality took a horribly wrong turn back in 2020 and we are all dealing with the consequences of that now."

The court heard Coleman was expected to served two-thirds of his sentence, less the more than 1,000 days he had already spent in custody.

Once released from jail, Coleman must also serve a further five years on extended licence.

He was also made subject of a part 4 notification order, meaning he must share personal information with the police for 30 years.

Counter Terrorism Policing London's head, Cdr Helen Flanagan has issued a warning to parents and carers to "make sure that you are aware of what your children are doing online". She added they should visit the ACT Early website, external for advice and information.

"It is extremely concerning that such a young person was planning to murder innocent members of the public as part of an extreme right wing terrorist plot," she said.

"Sadly we're seeing more and more examples of young people and children being drawn into violent extremism and terrorism this way.

"While it may be difficult, it is vital that you [parents] have conversations with them, and if you are still concerned, then ACT Early and get in touch, so that they can be steered down a different path before it is too late."