Neo-Nazi who had ‘kill list’ of Tesco colleagues jailed over gun attack plot

A young neo-Nazi who plotted a mass gun attack before being snared in an MI5 sting has been jailed for 13-and-a-half years.

Alfie Coleman, 22, made a ‘kill list’ of Tesco colleagues and customers he considered ‘race traitors’ and wrote a ‘manifesto’ with potential targets, including the Lord Mayor of London and a mosque.

He was caught when undercover officers from MI5 engaged him in an encrypted chat as he sought to buy weapons including a Skorpion submachine gun and an AK47.

Coleman, from Great Notley in Essex, was found guilty of preparing for terrorist acts after an Old Bailey retrial and jailed for 13-and-a-half years, with a further five years on extended license.

Judge Richard Marks KC said Coleman must be treated as a ‘dangerous offender’ as he sentenced him, describing the views the defendant expressed as ‘virulently racist’.

He told Coleman: ‘(Giving evidence) You maintained that much of what you had said and the virulently racist views which you expressed were no more than intrusive thoughts and did not represent what you believed in real life.

‘It was in effect, although you did not use these words, hyperbole, bravado, fantasy, and you never had any intention to carry out an attack.’

The 22-year-old appeared tearful and wiped his eyes with a tissue as the judge made his remarks.

Coleman was caught after undercover officers from MI5 engaged with Coleman in encrypted chat as he sought to buy weapons.

Authorities first became concerned in the summer of 2023 when Coleman became increasingly active on online extreme right-wing groups.

In early September 2023, he arranged to buy a Skorpion automatic weapon, an AK47 rifle and bullets in France, having identified a local mosque as his target – but quickly abandoned the plan.

Instead, MI5’s ‘highly sophisticated operation’ culminated in a Morrisons car park in Stratford, east London, on the morning of September 29, 2023.

That day Coleman, then aged 19, had arranged with an undercover officer to buy a Makarov pistol, five magazines and 200 rounds of ammunition.

Jurors saw dramatic video of Coleman dropping £3,500 in a Land Rover Discovery and picking up a holdall containing the handgun and ammunition from the boot.

Before he had gone 30 yards, Coleman, who was carrying his Tesco employee card, was confronted by armed counter-terrorism police and forced to the ground.

A search of the home he shared with his parents and sibling revealed the extent of Coleman’s murderous ideology, including idolising Thomas Mair, the extremist who killed MP Jo Cox.

Police found £2,500 in savings and a device to detect bugs and secret cameras in his bedside drawer; a rock with a Swastika on a table; a Black Sun flag associated with neo-Nazism on the wall; and various extreme right-wing books.

Police also seized a collection of knives from his bedside drawer and on top of his chest of drawers, a small stone axe, an air rifle and a flyer about target shooting.

An analysis of his electronic devices revealed that in July 2021, Coleman had emailed the far-right white supremacist organisation Patriotic Alternative saying he ‘would like to start participating in activism’.

He went on to write down plans for potential terrorist attacks such as hijacking a plane and targeting the home of the Lord Mayor of London.

They involved putting explosives in a cash machine as well as the use of knives and crossbows, the court was told.

He was ‘seething with hatred’ as he created an list of people at work who had ‘upset’ him in September 2022, prosecutor Nicholas De La Poer KC had said.

Among those he singled out was a white female co-worker who was married to a man of mixed Indian and Seychellois heritage.

Coleman said he was ‘captivated’ by an extreme right-wing book which commemorated public hangings of ‘white race traitors’.

Six days before his arrest, Coleman posted a picture of a man armed with an automatic gun and wearing a balaclava, and commented: ‘Coming soon here my man.’

Two days before he was due to pick up the Makarov in Stratford, he wrote: ‘Just something has gotta be done, how long can we sit here and talk over the internet.’

The same day, Coleman ordered a Gerber Strong Arm knife with a 4.8 inch blade online.

Giving evidence, Coleman described being lonely and suffering with his mental health during the Covid-19 lockdowns.

He had admitted attempting to possess both a firearm and ammunition but denied he was preparing for a terrorist attack.

He had pleaded guilty to possessing 10 documents with information likely to be useful to terrorists such as texts on weaponry and bomb-making instructions.

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