The judge who locked up a far-right extremist who plotted to blow up a police station to start a race war has released his full sentencing note.
Luke Skelton researched bombmaking techniques while posting a number of vile messages on social media platforms when he became wrapped up in far-right ideology.
Throughout the two-week trial, jurors heard how the North East man had posted his racist, sexist, homophobic, anti-Semitic and Islamophobic views while searching for recipes to create his own explosives and incendiary devices.
Judge Paul Watson KC, the Recorder of Middlesbrough, passed a five-year sentence – four in custody with an extended licence period of one year for the defendant’s terror plot.
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The judge published his damning remarks when he sentenced the 20-year-old at Teesside Crown Court.
He said: “Between October 2020 and October 2021 you were engaged in a course of conduct based upon the extreme right-wing views which you then held in order to bring about civil disturbance and unrest by terrorist means. It led to you identifying police stations in Newcastle as targets for your activities and your objectives.
“On 29th September 2021 you travelled over ten miles into Newcastle City centre in order to carry out reconnaissance and observations. Your objective was to cause explosions in order to provoke what you saw as a coming race war. This was not spur of the moment or impulsive conduct. You had been building up to it since you first seem to have wedded yourself to extreme right-wing ideology in the latter part of 2019.
Forth Banks police station in Newcastle
“You had researched the making of explosives and the means of using them. You had committed yourself to the idea of using violence in order to propagate your beliefs. You had, for example, downloaded material showing how napalm and dynamite could be made. You had searched the internet for details as to how to create a pipe bomb.
“In July 2021 you created notes on your mobile device which purported to be a recipe for fuel for an explosive device. In August of that year you were conducting another internet search for making Molotov cocktails.
“Your other internet activity shows that you were a committed and active right-wing extremist who was dedicated to white supremacy and provoking racial hatred. You were obsessed with the ideologies of Nazism, antisemitism, Islamophobia, transphobia, homophobia, and white supremacy.
“You made heroes of those who carried out atrocities in the name of fascism and other extreme right-wing policies. Your fantasy was to turn back the pages of the history books to times when such xenophobic and hateful views were tolerated and even admired.
Skelton praised the ideology of Enoch Powell
“I am not, of course, sentencing you for the views you held, however repugnant they may be to those who bear the proud traditions of having fought against them in the past. Your views about equality, openness, and inclusivity in a liberal democracy and your apparent hatred of such things are views to which you are entitled precisely because you live in such a society.
“You went far beyond testing the boundaries of freedom of thought and expression and put in place plans to disrupt and undermine such democratic institutions. These were not, as you sought to persuade the jury, empty fantasies designed to promote your own self-image or to foster your own ego. On the verdict of the jury, you intended to put your plans into action. The document known as the ‘final note’ speaks clearly as to your intentions.
“In June 2021 you were arrested on suspicion of possession of documents likely to be of use to a terrorist and you were questioned by police over hours of detention before you were released on bail. You breached the conditions of that police bail by continuing to communicate using prohibited devices under the assumed name of Adolf Hitler.
“On 20th July you were told that no further action would be taken against you but you continued your activities with the same enthusiasm as before, claiming this time that there would be ‘no more debate or discussion’ on your methods. You wanted to make a name for yourself and be a ‘great man of history’. As you put it yourself on 29th July 2021, you wanted ‘full on war’.
White supremacist Anders Breivik was also praised by Skelton (Image: PA)
“Plainly all attempts to engage you in the Prevent or Channel programmes failed. You had no interest in being de-radicalised such was your all-consuming obsession with using violent means to bring about your extremist objectives.
“By the time of your visit to the Newcastle police stations you were completely caught up with terrorist ideology and methods.
“I accept that you are someone who since the age of 6 has had to cope with autistic spectrum disorder (ASD). You have a borderline level of intellectual functioning although you score highly in verbal comprehension and this may give an impression of greater cognitive reasoning and awareness than you actually have.
“It has resulted in you living a largely isolated life throughout your childhood and your teens. Although there is no evidence to connect autism with an increased susceptibility to extremism or radicalisation, I am prepared to acknowledge that it may have given you a sense of excitement and purpose which you readily latched on to.
“I am mindful too that the background to this offense was the loneliness created by the Covid outbreak and the inevitable difficulties caused to many young people. It is equally clear, though, that your condition does not provide any sort of barrier preventing you from acting on your extreme views and I am not persuaded that there is anything arising from your mental condition which should lead me to the view that it should significantly reduce your culpability for the offence of which you were convicted.
“In sentencing you I am required by law to have regard to the guidelines of the Sentencing Council in relation to sentencing in cases involving preparation for acts of terrorism. In doing so, the first thing I have to do is to assess your culpability for this offence.
“On one view you were playing a leading role in terrorist activity where the preparations were not far advanced. However, I have come to the conclusion that what you were doing and the level of preparations you had in fact achieved do not sit easily with that description.
Luke Skelton (Image: Counter Terrorism Police)
“On the other hand, I do not think that the steps you had taken could properly be described as ‘very limited preparation’ either. You had gone beyond that stage to the level of reconnaissance and recording potential targets. The true level of culpability, in my view, falls between level C and level D.
“In assessing the level of harm, I have firstly considered the harm that would have been caused had you carried out your plans as intended. On the basis of the evidence in the trial I am sure that you intended to create a situation in which multiple deaths were risked. That much is clear from the fact that you intended to deploy explosives in a busy area where there would inevitably be such a risk. I do not, though, conclude that your intention was to create a situation in which multiple deaths were very likely to be caused.
“However, I am satisfied that the reality, whatever your intentions, is that you had neither the intellectual, financial, personal, or technical wherewithal to have constructed an explosive device which was capable of causing even modest injury.
“You would not have been able to create a high explosive device. You would not have been able to acquire the necessary ingredients to create such an explosive or any means by which to detonate any such device. No low explosive device that you might have been able to assemble would have created any real risk to life.
“The only resources you had were the crude and ineffectual methods you had sourced from the internet, but you lacked any ability to follow those instructions to actually create an explosive device. In short, despite your extremist ambitions, you would never have been capable of creating anything remotely viable.
“In this regard, I accept your mother’s evidence as to your true level of functioning and abilities. This is not inconsistent with the evidence of Dr. Smith. In my view this situation in analogous to the situation in which a terrorist act, though planned and fully intended, could not be carried out because of the prior involvement of law enforcement agencies.
“I therefore move down from a starting point of ten years custody to a starting point of seven years custody before taking account of aggravating features and mitigation. There is a single aggravating feature which is that you offended on police bail and ignored warnings which you were given. That increases the starting point before mitigation to eight years.
“You are just 20. You were only 18 at the time of these offences. There needs to be a substantial reduction to take account of your youth and immaturity at the time. A significant prison sentence for a young man such as you will seem much longer than for someone significantly older. There should be a discount of 25 per cent to allow for youth and immaturity.
“You suffer from ASD. I have already said that I do not regard that as making a significant difference to your culpability but it is undeniable that it will make the inevitable custodial sentence substantially more arduous for you.
“As Dr. Thorpe puts it ‘it would be more likely that he would be vulnerable and targeted due to his autism disorder and lower IQ’. You have no previous convictions. That is of less weight than might have been otherwise because of the length of time over which these offences were committed, but it should be reflected in the overall sentence.
“You were first tried in May 2022 when the jury could not agree on their verdict. You then had to wait until May 2023 before you could be re-tried on this indictment. During that time, you were subject to strict bail conditions and will no doubt have had the added stress of this matter hanging over you.
“Although it would have been open to you to plead guilty it was your right to be tried by a jury and I think that some consideration should be given for the delay in this case.
“Finally, a custodial term will have to be served by you in conditions of overcrowding and with the potential uncertainty of being moved at any time. These are legitimate factors for the court to take into account in further reducing the custodial term. I am of the view that none of the conditions for the making of a serious terrorism sentence are met. A life sentence is not justified.
“I have considered carefully whether you are someone who presents a significant risk of serious harm to members of the public. For the reasons I have set out above, and despite your long held extremist views and attitudes, I have concluded that the criteria for the making of an extended sentence are not met.
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“I am supported in this view by the fact that you were on bail for nearly a year without any offending. The pre-sentence report provides further support.
“If the court does not pass a life sentence or an extended sentence the court must impose a special custodial sentence for offenders of particular concern to include an extended licence period of one year.
“For this offence there will be a sentence of five years comprising a four-year custodial term and an extension of the relevant licence period by a period of one year. The custodial term of four years will be reduced by 174 days to reflect the qualifying curfew, and the time which you have spent on remand will automatically count towards the sentence.
“There will be a Serious Crime Prevention Order in the terms set out in the draft and this will apply until further order.”
