'Neo-Nazi' plotted terrorist attacks from Stirlingshire home with 'armoury'

A ‘Neo-Nazi’ white supremacist who amassed an “armoury” at his Stirlingshire home has been found guilty of planning a series of terrorist crimes including intending to commit an act of terrorism.

Alan Edward, a former journalist who glorified Hitler, had discussed an attack on a Scottish LBGT group, a jury heard.

The 54-year-old who had nearly 28,000 followers on social media, denied the Holocaust, mocked the murder of George Floyd, and invited support for a proscribed far-right terrorist group.

A document found on his computer referred to Norweigian neo-Nazi mass murderer Anders Breivik as “Saint Anders”.

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”.

He was arrested after armed police surrounded his end-terrace two-storey home in Redding, Falkirk, in September 2022 and broke down his front door.

They found weapons and equipment 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.

They also found an air pistol modeled on the “James Bond” Walther PPK, an SS-style skull mask, goggles and a respirator, fighting gloves with specially-hardened knuckles, pellets, ball bearings, and hunting tips for crossbow arrows.

Prosecutors said this amounted to “an armoury”.

Edward also had an indoor cannabis plantation he was growing to sell.

Checks on his WhatsApp account found he had been messaging an associate in nearby Grangemouth – identified only as “Pello” – about the proposed attack on the LBGT group, which met in Falkirk.

He was found to be using homophobic, racist, anti-Semitic, and anti-trans language in a series of messages expressing his desire to kill members of the transgender and Jewish communities.

In a series of messages described as the prosecution as “incredibly sinister”, he said of LGBT group: “They have been pushing their luck for years, now they will pay in blood.”

He added: “We should get masked up and go do a few of them in at their little g** club.”

The court heard that Edward had two accounts on the social media platform Gab, popular with the extremists because it is known to be loosely-moderated.

He came to the attention of counter-terrorism investigators after posting a video glorifying a banned far right group called National Action.

The video was of a rally held in Darlington, England in 2016, shortly before National Action became the first far-right group to be proscribed in the UK under the Terrorism Act.

A jury found Stirling-born 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; and encouraging terrorism and circulating terrorist publications.

He was also found guilty of racism, anti-semitism, Holocaust denial, and statutory breach of the peace.

All these offences he denied.

He was further found guilty of producing and supplying cannabis and possessing the stun gun – which he had offered to admit before the trial began.

During a 11-day trial, Police Scotland counter terrorism officer Detective Sergeant Campbell Flockhart said a number of posts by Edward on Gab highlighted violence against white people by black people, while others included memes about George Floyd, who was murdered by a white police officer in Minneapolis in May 2020.

He showed no emotion whatsoever when the verdicts were announced.

Judge Fiona Tait deferred sentence until October 21 at the High Court in Edinburgh and continued Edward’s remand in custody in the meantime.

She also called for an assessment for a Serious Crime Prevention Order.

She thanked jurors for the “care” they had taken.

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”.

Detective Chief Superintendent David Ferry, head of Police Scotland’s Counter Terrorsim Unit, said: “Edward shared extreme racist and homophobic content online with the aim of stirring up hatred and spreading fear and alarm.

“He also had a clear fascination with weapons and had amassed an array of items which could clearly pose a significant risk to the public.

“Promoting terrorism and extremism and sharing material that could endanger the public has no place in our society and Police Scotland will not hesitate to investigate this kind of behaviour both on and off-line.

“We are committed to combatting terrorism and help and support from the public is vital. Anyone with information on a terrorist threat should contact Police Scotland on 101 immediately.”