Neo-Nazis who plotted ‘race war’ terror attack on mosque jailed for 29 years

Three neo-Nazis who plotted terror attacks on mosques and synagogues believing a race war was imminent have been jailed.

Christopher Ringrose, 34, Marco Pitzettu, 25, and Brogan Stewart, 25, claimed they were merely fantasists and were not being serious when they gushed over Adolf Hitler, glorified mass murderers and discussed potential targets.

But the trio had amassed more than 200 knives and swords, as well as body armour and a stun gun.

Ringrose had also 3D-printed most of the components of a semi-automatic firearm at the time of his arrest, which prosecutors said could have been used to ‘devastating consequences’.

Detective Chief Superintendent James Dunkerley, Head of Counter Terrorism Policing North East said: ‘We saw this building of a firearm, and we saw them then changing their conversation and an uptick in their hatred and looking to identify a real-world target, which could have been talk of a synagogue, an Islamic institution, a mosque, education…

‘When we saw that uptick changing, and they were looking to come out into the real world, that’s when we took the action to arrest them.’

Mr Dunkerley said: ‘That was a tipping point for us. The protection of the public was absolutely paramount, and this wasn’t some fantasy.’

Ringrose, Pitzettu and Stewart were each found guilty of a charge of preparing acts of terrorism and charges of collecting information likely to be useful to a person preparing or committing an act of terrorism following a nine-week trial.

Ringrose was jailed for 10 years, Pitzettu was given an eight years sentence and Stewart was locked up for 11 years today.

The trio, who are not believed to have met in the real world before they appeared together in the dock.

They were arrested when security services believed an attack was imminent after undercover officers infiltrated their online group, Sheffield Crown Court heard.

Opening the trial in March, Jonathan Sandiford KC, prosecuting, said: ‘These three defendants were right-wing extremists who regarded themselves as National Socialists, or Nazis, and they supported the National Socialist movement in the UK, such as it is or indeed was.’

He said the defendants followed a cause which embraced an admiration for Adolf Hitler, white supremacy, a ‘hatred towards black and other non-white races’, and glorification and admiration for mass killers who have targeted the black and Muslim community.

He told the jury of seven men and five women that the trio all held a ‘belief that there must soon be a race war between the white and other races’.

The prosecutor told the jury that the defendants formed a group called Einsatz 14 in January 2024, with ‘like-minded extremists’ who wanted to ‘go to war for their chosen cause’.

He said Stewart told the group: ‘Hitler did more for his people than any politician. And for Britain to have a p*** and zionist in charge of the country is absolutely outrageous.’

Mr Sandiford said this last comment was a reference to the then Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.

The jury was also shown a short video Stewart posted of himself wearing a German army helmet, a Nazi armband and a skull face covering.

Mr Sandiford explained how Stewart discussed torturing a Muslim leader using his ‘information extraction kit’ with an undercover officer.

He explained how Stewart set up a group called Einsatz 14 with him as ‘Fuhrer’ and an undercover officer called Blackheart as the ‘Obergruppenfuhrer’, which the other two defendants also joined.

He said that when Blackheart asked him about the group’s ideology, Stewart replied: ‘Personally, I’ve taken inspiration from the SS’, and added: ‘I also hope that we can extort political rivals and potentially plan operations to meet migrants landing on our beaches and deal with them.

‘As the race war comes to unfold I’d expect members to stand by, wait for orders and deploy to combat our…’

The prosecutor told the court that Stewart developed a mission statement for the group which said its ‘basic duties’ included to ‘target mosques, Islamic education centers and other similar locations’.

Mr Sandiford told the jury the group discussed potential targets at the end of January 2024.

He told the court Stewart sent Blackheart details of the Islamic Education center on Mexborough Road in Leeds, including a Google Maps image.

The officer asked Stewart for more detailed information about the plan, and he replied that they could smash windows or ambush someone, the court heard.

According to Mr Sandiford, Stewart said: ‘It depends how far we are willing to go. It could be a beating with batons and bats or something more serious.’

After the verdicts, Mr Dunkerley said: ‘These individuals have come together in an online space, and what brought them together was extreme racial prejudice.

‘They held extreme racist views. They idolised the Nazi Party.

‘There was adoration for mass murderers, and they held really extreme views against people who didn’t look like them.

‘Those views were amplified in that online space, encouraged between them, and they looked then to start what I think was prepping for a real-world attack.’

Mr Dunkerley said: ‘I think, had we not taken steps to arrest them, that we would have seen something play out in the real-world that could have had fatal consequences.’

The officer said: ‘It was very much our firm view that this was more than just talk.’

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