LONDON: An 18-year-old in the UK who promoted extreme right-wing views and approved of the 2019 mosque massacres in New Zealand has been accused of preparing to commit acts of terrorism.
Luke Skelton has gone on trial after he allegedly researched police stations in Newcastle online and in person, and in one instance, took a series of photographs of a police building.
Nicholas de la Poer QC, the prosecuting barrister, told the jury: “These were not the snaps of a tourist marveling at the architecture. The prosecution’s case is that there was a much more sinister purpose to what Luke Skelton was doing that day.”
De la Poer said of the college student: “He had a plan. His plan was to commit terrorist acts.” Skelton traveled 10 miles from his home to carry out “hostile reconnaissance” on the police station, he added.
The teenager was previously involved in the UK’s controversial anti-extremism Prevent program, having been referred by an official from his college.
Authorities have evidence that Skelton held extremist views, including lionizing Adolf Hitler and Brenton Tarrant, the white supremacist who killed 51 Muslim worshippers during a mass shooting at two Christchurch mosques.
The jury is set to access the evidence later in the trial. It includes notes, online chat room messages and a manifesto.
De la Poer said of one note written by the teenager: “It is clear, we submit, that Luke Skelton regards himself as engaged in a race war. The note is clearly intended to be read after Luke Skelton has done something.
“He states that the purpose of the final note is to clarify the reasoning for why I’ve committed these acts to accelerate the coming collapse and racial war. It is expected by Luke Skelton that the war will lead to people dying in their thousands. The hope, he is expressing, is that his act will be the spark for that war.”
Skelton is also said to have used the internet to find bomb-making instructions, covering dynamite and napalm devices.
