Maga-hat wearing neo-Nazi jailed for terror offences after claiming to be ‘normal person who likes collecting stuff’
Nicholas Brock, who lived with his mother, was convicted of possessing documents useful to a terrorist
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A neo-Nazi who posed for a photo while wearing a Make America Great Again hat has been been jailed for terror offences.
Nicholas Brock, 53, told police he was just “a normal person who likes collecting stuff” after hoarding bomb manuals, Nazi weapons and extremist literature in his bedroom.
Kingston Crown Court heard that he demonstrated his “extreme right-wing mindset” with tattoos including “prominent German Nazi figures from the 1930s and 40s”, an SS Totenkopf skull, runes and other symbols adopted by white supremacists.
At the home he shared with his mother in Maidenhead, Berkshire, Brock possessed a collection of Second World War knives and daggers bearing Nazi and SS insignia, and recipes for homemade bombs annotated with hand-drawn swastikas.
Police also found a framed “certificate of recognition” from the Ku Klux Klan (KKK), addressed personally to Brock, under his bed.
Officers seized electronic devices containing photos showing Brock performing Hitler salutes, wearing a balaclava and holding “a large firearm”, posing in front of a swastika flag, and wearing a Make America Great Again cap in front of the Confederate flag.
The slogan, often abbreviated as “Maga”, was used by Donald Trump during his successful 2016 US presidential campaign.
A judge jailed Brock for four years on Tuesday, after he was convicted of three counts of possessing documents useful to a terrorist.
Judge Peter Lodder QC said he had “carefully and deliberately” filed the material, adding: “You also had pieces of paper with instructions for the preparation of homemade bombs.
“It is clear from the wide range of other material found on your computer and your hard drive that you are a right-wing extremist.
“Your enthusiasm for this repulsive and toxic ideology is demonstrated by the graphic, racist, Islamophobic and white supremacist iconography which you have stored and appear to share with others of similar views.”
The charges related to The Anarchists’ Cookbook version 2000, which contains bomb recipes, a document on knife fighting techniques and a US military manual containing further instruction on fatal attacks.
Kingston Crown Court heard that he tried to blame an old school friend for downloading terrorist documents, but the man had never visited Brock’s home.
Brock denied the charges and said he was a ”military collector“, who had an interest in weapons and ammunition stemming from his love of Action Man figures as a child.
He also told investigators he had ”no interest“ in far-right groups, as he ”didn't go out much“ due to his social anxieties.
Prosecutor Emma Gargitter said Brock “had no legitimate reason” for possessing documents that went far beyond memorabilia, and included “advice on how to create bombs, on how to kill and how to maim”.
Police found literature including a copy of Adolf Hitler’s book Mein Kampf, National Front flyers in an envelope addressed to Brock and books about the KKK and neo-Nazi group Combat 18.
A flag displaying an eagle and swastika were on Brock’s bedroom wall, and he had an SS wall plaque, Nazi propaganda poster and Nazi badge on his bedside table, the court heard.
Jurors were told that his laptop, hard drives and mobile phones contained insignia, flags and other material associated with historical and contemporary far-right groups, and videos of “extreme violence”.
They included the footage taken by the 2019 Christchurch mosque shooter, beheadings and KKK cross burnings.
Searches had been made on Brock’s laptop for banned neo-Nazi terrorist group National Action, as well as for other extremist groups and racist terms.
Edward Butler, defending, admitted his client had hoarded the material over many years but added: ”There is no evidence of membership of a proscribed or terrorist organisation, intention to carry out or assist or participate in any form of terrorist activity, or any preparation for such activity.“
Officers from Counter Terrorism Policing South East, who arrested Brock in September 2019, believe he was likely to have been “self-radicalised”.
Detective Chief Superintendent Kath Barnes said: “Although it is likely Brock had extreme toxic views, these seem to have been enhanced over the last couple of years, leading to this investigation, his arrest and ultimately his imprisonment.
“Online grooming can happen to anyone. Vulnerable people can be drawn into a way of thinking by what they view and who they speak to online, and it can be difficult for loved ones to know what signs to spot or what to do.
“Getting people the right support early on is the key, before it is too late and they have committed offences.”
Additional reporting by PA