A 24-year-old British student was arrested in possession of white supremacist, Nazi and neo-Nazi books. He also had an instruction manual for making a bomb. The judge wanted him to review his readings.
Found guilty during a court hearing on August 11, the young criminology student was given a twenty-four month suspension. But if he really wants to avoid prison, he will have to read classics of English literature. This is the condition set by Timothy Spencer, the judge in charge of the case. The latter speaks of the charges against the student (yet punishable by a maximum prison sentence of 15 years) as an “isolated incident” and a “youthful error”.
Jane Austen, William Shakespeare, Thomas Hardy or Charles Dickens will therefore be on the program of the young man’s readings, reports the English regional daily. Leicester mercury who attended the hearing. To be sure that he will keep his commitment, Judge Spencer has set a deadline for him: “January 4 [date de la prochaine audience] you will tell me what you have read and I will test you on it. If I think you’re lying to me […] you know what will happen ”.
A disturbing profile
When he was only 18 years old, the authorities had already identified a potential terrorist risk in the young man. Despite the warnings, he continued to upload material related to the neo-Nazis and wrote an insulting letter against homosexuals and immigrants.
“He possessed Nazi and anti-Semitic material which indicated a fascination and belief in a white supremacist ideology, as well as support for an extreme Satanist group which is of increasing concern to law enforcement,” detailed to Leicester Mercury, Inspector James Manning, in charge of the fight against terrorism.
“The terrorist material he had in his possession is extremely dangerous, he acquired it to advance his ideology. This indicates the threat that he and other followers of this hateful ideology pose to national security, ”the policeman concluded.