A teenager who planned to blow up a police station to start a race war has gone on trial charged with a terrorism offence.
Luke Skelton shared his far-right extremist views on social media platforms in the months leading up to his plan to detonate his own explosive device.
The autistic Washington teenager travelled to Newcastle to check out viable targets before implementing his plan in the city centre.
Teesside Crown Court heard how the teenager was arrested before he was able to carry out his plan.
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Nicholas De La Poer KC, prosecuting, said Skelton had researched the recipe for Napalm in an attempt to make his own explosive device and a forensic search of his computer revealed searches for neo-Nazi material.
The barrister added Skelton had shown his support for Enoch Powell and the rise of white nationalism.
Skelton 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.
He said on his Discord account, Skelton posted: “Back then we called them what they are which is backward and savage I don’t care, f*** them. They are a disgusting race of barbarians, which we let in, they don’t fear us for this exact b*****t your (sic) pulling up.
“We should have every right to despise them and want the subhumans gone if the vast majority were good people there (sic) countries wouldn’t be backward barbarian s**tholes.”
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.
The barrister told jurors how Skelton dreamed of returning the country back to the 1900s when it was at its peak of Imperialism and ethnic diversity was very limited and shared his vision with people on social media.
The jury heard how the teenager’s behaviour at college caught the attention of a lecturer who referred him to the Government’s Prevent programme designed to address and tackle extremism.
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Skelton also praised the terrorist actions of far-right extremist Anders Breivik and Brenton Tarrant, who livestreamed himself as he went into two mosques, killing people as they attended morning prayer in Christchurch, New Zealand.
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 counter-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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