Teenage white supremacist ‘planned terror attack to spark race war in UK’, court told

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A 16-year-old boy who allegedly plotted a terror attack in a bid to trigger a race war in Britain is to go on trial later this year.

The teenager, who cannot be named for legal reasons, is a white supremacist who had searched for synagogues and attempted to obtain explosives, Oxford Crown Court heard.

He is charged with six terror offences and sexually assaulting a 12-year-old girl.

The boy, from Durham, appeared in the dock wearing blue jeans and a blue T-shirt during a short hearing.

Mr Justice Sweeney remanded him in custody ahead of a hearing at Manchester Crown Court on 2 September. His trial is expected to start in October.

The boy was allegedly caught with a “shopping list” of items to make petrol bombs when he was arrested in the Durham area on 13 March.

He is charged with one count of engaging in preparation of an act of terrorism between October 2017 and his arrest.

The charge states that his planning included reading extreme right-wing ideological texts, searching for synagogues and trying to secure ammonium nitrate – an explosive component.

The boy is accused of drafting a document call the “Manual for practical and sensible guerrilla warfare against kike system in the Durham City area”. “Kike” is an ethnic slur referring to Jewish people.

Prosecutors said he had searched for information on firearms, explosives, ammunition and weapons, and engaged in sexual touching of a 12-year-old girl as a “desensitisation technique”.

The teenager faces one count of disseminating a terrorist publication, called “DIY Firearms, Modification and Ammunition”, and one count of possessing an article for terrorist purposes – a handwritten note of Molotov cocktail ingredients.

He is further charged with three counts of possession of information useful in the preparation of an act of terrorism, including electronic documents on making different kinds of explosives and ricin – a biological warfare agent.

The teenager is also accused of sexually touching a child under the age of 13.

Additional reporting by Press Association