Anders Breivik-inspired teenager prepared attack on synagogue after joining far-right group The Base, court hears
The teen, who cannot be named, is accused of plotting the attack with hopes of igniting a race war.
Tuesday 13 January 2026 18:45, UK
A 15-year-old schoolboy "filled with hate and racism" collected a stash of weapons including knives, a crossbow, shotgun and explosives as he prepared a far-right attack on a synagogue.
The teenager, who cannot be named because of his age, also kept a diary in which he expressed his desire to launch a terrorist attack against black as well as gay people, Leeds Crown Court was told.
He went on to research a synagogue in Newcastle as a potential target and joined a far-right group called 'The Base' - a proscribed terror group - which encourages followers to carry out acts of violence in order to ignite a race war.
When officers raided the cottage he shared with his father in a remote village in Northumberland on 20 February last year, they found his bedroom was adorned with white supremacist flags and he had a collection of knives, crossbows and nails for use in a bomb.
"In short they found an arsenal, one worthy of any young right-wing terrorist," Michelle Heeley KC, prosecuting, told the jury.
Police discovered that he had plastered recruitment stickers across his village stating: "The Base - learn train, fight. Survivalism and self-defence network."
In his diary on 30 January, 2023, shortly after he turned 13, the boy wrote a list ranking white supremacist killers, placing Anders Breivik, who killed 77 people in Norway in 2011 and was subsequently imprisoned for mass murder, at the top of the list, explaining: "Ultimately the best. He killed the most amount of people to get his point across to people in the world."
Four months later, in May 2023 he started to sketch out plans for bombs and weapons, annotating the notes with swastikas, the court was told.
Ms Heeley said matters "became more serious" in June when he started to actively experiment with making weapons and shared images of his knife collection and military equipment and memorabilia including body armour and a Nazi officer's cap.
The plans became "more concrete" by 14 August, when the boy wrote: "I don't want to survive this. I think the main reason I'm targeting the police and government is that they are the reason white people are killed, raped and discriminated against by the invaders, the reason for this is to inspire others in countries as restrictive as mine and also to start a race war."
The same month he purchased a crossbow.
"Preparations have taken a step up. These are not just words anymore they have become actions," Ms Heeley said.
On 1 December. 2024, the accused also put up recruitment stickers on lampposts across his village and wrote to another user: "I have always admired Hitler but only in the last two years have I become NS," a reference to national socialism.
He added: "I have always hated n****** as well but thankfully everyone in my school is white except for two or three n******."
School shootings 'instead of Christmas films'
On 22 December, he used the Amazon website to purchase potassium nitrate powder and watched a video on how to make black powder explosives.
On Christmas Eve, "instead of Christmas films", he watched videos showing the loading and firing of a homemade black powder rifle, and a video of a mass stabbing by Arda Kucukyetim in Turkey in August 2024 - along with videos of school shootings, Ms Heeley said.
On 29 December, a few weeks after turning 15, he researched Brenton Tarrant, who shot dead 51 worshipers at two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, in March 2019.
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"Immediately after researching a man who had attacked a place of worship, this defendant researched local synagogues," including the Newcastle Reform Synagogue, Ms Heeley said.
On New Year's Eve, he looked for homemade .22 ammunition and a 3D printed firearm known as an FGC-9.
"The nature of the searches tells you everything you need to know - the prosecution case is that he was gathering weapons and identifying targets. He was preparing for acts of terrorism."
On 8 February, the teenager suggested electrical substations or mobile phone towers would be a good target and four days later sent a video suggesting he had made explosives.
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Ms Heeley said: "This was a young man obsessed with white power and he collected information to help him carry out his plans for an attack.
"This was a young man actively preparing for a terrorist act and had the police not got there in time who knows what he may have done.
"We will point to the multiple times the defendant referred to taking part in action in real life, how he professed support for white supremacists and stated how he hated blacks and Jews, the research of synagogues.
"These were not empty words, these were the words of a teenage boy filled with hate and racism, a boy who was planning to channel his anger into committing an act of terrorism, who idolised those who had carried out such atrocities previously."
He denies preparing acts of terrorism, membership of a proscribed terrorist organisation, possession of terrorist documents and dissemination of terrorist documents. The trial continues.