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Criminology student who ‘admired Hitler’ accused of possessing terrorist manuals
Court told how Ben John downloaded guides on making improvised weaponry
August 6, 2021 13:37
Court told how Ben John downloaded guides on making improvised weaponry
August 6, 2021 13:37A 21-year-old Leicester student said to be an admirer of Adolf Hitler was caught with terrorist manuals on his computer, a court has heard.
Ben John, who was studying criminology with psychology at the time of his arrest, is on trial at Leicester Crown Court charged with seven counts of possessing a record containing information useful to terrorism.
Mr John was said by the prosecution of be “fascinated by extreme right-wing views” and accused him of having downloaded manuals on making improvised weaponry, ammunition and explosives.
The prosecution also said “There's material to show the defendant admired Nazism and Adolf Hitler.”
The court heard how he came to the attention of counter-terrorism scheme Prevent twice in 2018 but investigators decided to close the case on both occasions.
On searching his flat police were said to have seized three hard disk drives that held the terror-related files.
Mr John admitted downloading the 67,788 files and documents, some of which were on lawful topics, but claimed the literature on ammunition and guns were for research after an online dispute on the topic.
He also claimed that he did not read all the information he downloaded and was unaware of the content of some of the files.
Ben Lloyd, prosecuting, said: "It is clear the defendant carefully and knowingly obtained and stored this material.
"He was methodical in how it came to be curated and he was something of a careful librarian."
Mr John denies all charges.
The trial continues.
Courtesy of BPM Media
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