Nazi-worshipping trio jailed for planning machete attacks on mosques and synagogues

The judge, Mrs Justice Cutts, outlined how the online group the trio belonged to had been preparing for an attack on an Islamic Education Centre in Leeds before they were arrested by counter-terror police.

In May, a jury rejected claims the defendants were fantasists with no intention of carrying out their threats and found Ringrose, of Cannock, Staffordshire, Pitzettu, of Mickleover, Derbyshire, and Stewart, of Tingley, Wakefield, West Yorkshire, guilty of a charge of preparing acts of terrorism and charges of collecting information likely to be useful to a person preparing or committing an act of terrorism.

Ringrose was also convicted of manufacturing a prohibited weapon.

The judge said she believed each of the defendants would be dangerous after their release from prison and gave them extended sentences, with additional licence periods.

She said the trio’s ideology was “laid bare” in a 374-page dossier of internet activity put before the jury.

The judge said: “These pages were filled with hate towards black and other non-white races, especially Muslim people and immigrants, with ideas of white supremacy and racial purity together with a belief that there must soon be a race war.”

She said this was coupled with the “glorification and admiration of the policies and actions of Hitler and the German Nazi Party, including antisemitism, and of mass killers who had targeted black or Muslim communities.”

The judge said she did not believe a terrorist attack was “imminent” and the group had not decided exactly what they were going to do.

She said: “Mercifully your plans and preparations were being monitored and were ultimately thwarted by the authorities.

“For that reason, they did not advance as far as I am satisfied they would otherwise have done.

“I do however find that a terrorist attack was likely in the not too distant future.”

The nine-week-long trial heard how the defendants formed an online group called Einsatz 14 in January 2024, with “like-minded extremists” who wanted to “go to war for their chosen cause”.

Stewart told the group: “Hitler did more for his people than any politician. And for Britain to have a p*** and Zionist in charge of the country is absolutely outrageous.”

Prosecutors said this last comment was a reference to the then Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.

The jury was also shown a short video Stewart posted of himself wearing a German army helmet, a Nazi armband and a skull face covering.

Prosecutors explained how Stewart discussed torturing a Muslim leader using his “information extraction kit” with an undercover officer.

Stewart called himself “Fuhrer” of the Einsatz 14 group and appointed undercover officer called Blackheart as the “Obergruppenfuhrer”, which the other two defendants also joined.

Potential recruits to Einsatz 14 were sent a vetting form with questions such as: “Out of so many different options, who would you say you hold most of your hatred for – k***s, n*****s, s***skins, f**s etc and why.”

Stewart developed a mission statement for the group which said its “basic duties” included to “target mosques, Islamic education centres and other similar locations”.

And he sent Blackheart details of the Islamic Education Centre on Mexborough Road in Leeds, including a Google Maps image.

The officer asked Stewart for more detailed information about the plan and he replied that they could smash windows or ambush someone, the court heard.

According to prosecutors, Stewart said: “It depends how far we are willing to go. It could be a beating with batons and bats or something more serious.”

The judge said Stewart played a “leading” role but also accepted he has a “long and complex history of mental health difficulties”, has autism spectrum disorder and was “an isolated individual with no friends and little in the way of social interaction”.

But she told him: “There is no evidence that your autistic spectrum disorder or other mental health difficulties impaired your ability to exercise appropriate judgment, make rational choices or to understand the nature and consequences of your actions.

“You knew them only too well.”

Counter Terrorism Policing North East said a fourth man was arrested along with these defendants.

Claudiu Cristea, of Queens Road, Leicester, was found guilty of a charge of possessing a document that is likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism in June and sentenced to five-and-a-half years in prison.