A WOULD-be terrorist’s internet search history has shown how he searched for bomb making ingredients and far-right propaganda videos.
Luke Skelton’s plan to blow-up a North East police station in an attempt to incite a race war was foiled after his online activities raised concern at his college.
The 18-year-old shared a number of racist and abusive videos across social media networks and shared his views for around a year before he was arrested, Teesside Crown Court heard.
Skelton also created a ‘final note’ explaining the reasoning behind his plan to incite a race war by launching terrorist attacks after talking of his admiration for Adolf Hitler and British Fascist Oswald Mosely.
Read more: North East teen charged with terror offences wanted to 'blow up' police station
The court heard how Skelton had developed an interest in France authored a document entitled “Manifesto for the Monarchist Front of France”, which proposed policies for the country aimed at inciting a revolution.
Detective Constable Melanie Clarke, an officer with North East Counter Terrorism Policing, took members of the jury through the timeline of the events leading up to Skelton’s arrest in September last year.
Throughout the investigation the team were able to recover a number of videos downloaded by the teenager as well documents and online chats where he outlined his plan to start a race war.
In one message shared on the Discord platform, she said he wrote: “I believe that we must fight for I refuse to accept the fate we hath dragged ourselves into for not only is it disgraceful to toe the line of your funeral pyre but I simply could not bear to look upon my descendants having known I did nothing as to give them an actual homeland or not to fight.”
The court heard how Skelton had downloaded video of the livestream of the Christchurch Mosque shootings which had been edited to introduce the theme tune of Friends over the top.
Read more: Man jailed for life after dad-of-two was blasted to death with sawn-off shotgun
Jurors heard how the video related to the events of March 15, 2019, when Brenton Tarrant livestreamed himself as he went into two mosques, killing people as they attended morning prayer.
Earlier in the trial, the jury heard how the autistic teenager travelled to Newcastle from his Washington home to photograph one of the city’s police stations as well as creating his own ‘political manifesto’ supporting white supremacist theories.
The defendant carried out a ‘hostile reconnaissance' of Forth Bank police station before he was arrested last September and his mobile phone and computer system were seized by countr-terrorism officers.
Skelton, of Oxclose, Washington, denies a charge of preparing to commit acts of terrorism.
The trial, which is expected to last two weeks, continues.
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