Teenage neo-Nazi defaced Windrush mural and had ‘race war’ fantasies, court told

A teenager daubed a Windrush mural with Nazi symbols and fantasised about making a gun and killing a schoolboy, a court has heard.

The 17-year-old boy from South Wales admitted a string of terror offences and criminal damage and appeared for sentencing at the Old Bailey on Friday.

The court was told how the youth was aged 16 when he painted graffiti on a Windrush mural in Port Talbot, which celebrates the town’s Caribbean community, on two occasions last year.

Community members were shaken and disgusted after several swastikas, the phrase “Nazi zone”, white supremacist symbol “1488” and a racial slur appeared on the mural hours after it was completed.

The mural depicts Donna Campbell, a much-loved nurse and daughter of the Windrush generation who died during the pandemic, and her mother Lydia, known as Mrs Campbell in her community, with a merged image of a Welsh dragon and the Jamaican flag.

The teenager had bragged about his actions on Telegram telling a user: “Check my art out. Didn’t even spray this shit. I pulled up with a f****** paint brush.”

The emporium was targeted because it is a centre for the local LGBT+ community, the court was told.

The defendant had already been referred to the Prevent de-radicalisation programme by the Royal Air Force Air Cadets in April last year.

He was dismissed from the organisation after sending extremist messages to fellow cadets.

Prosecutor Lucy Jones outlined how the defendant’s extreme right-wing ideology was laid bare after he was arrested on November 8 last year.

In a search of his bedroom, police found a stash of knives, an air rifle and antisemitic literature.

A copy of Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf had been bought for him by his mother and contained the defendant’s handwritten notes, Ms Jones said.

Other items from the defendant’s room included gas masks and flags bearing a Ku Klux Klan (KKK) symbol and a swastika.

The defendant’s electronic devices were also seized and the court was shown homemade videos and images in which he made Nazi salutes and shared his far-right ideology.

In one video, the youth talked about “white power” while wearing a swastika pendant, which he was regularly seen sporting on social media.

In other videos, the boy posed with an air gun and referred to himself as the “KKK” and “Hitler’s strongest soldier”.

His internet search history revealed a fascination with far-right mass killers and an interest in extreme groups such as the Atomwaffen Division.

Ms Jones said: “There appears to be an unhealthy interest in school shootings and videos showing live coverage of these shootings taking place.”

The defendant’s diary also outlined a desire for “race war”, the court was told.

Ms Jones said: “He is an isolated and angry youth who spends a considerable amount of time reading extreme right-wing, white supremacist literature and he had violent fantasies.”

Among the entries was a hate-filled rant about an Asian schoolmate in which the defendant wrote: “I would be doing the world a favour if I just killed him.”

Ms Jones said messages on his phone demonstrated his “interest in guns and an intention to build one”.

The prosecutor said the defendant was not just a “keyboard warrior”, saying: “He’s carrying out his ideals not just in relation to the criminal damage but advocating in views in his social media. He’s not anonymous, he is willing to show his face and share and support his views.”

In June, the youth pleaded guilty to eight charges – two of possessing a terrorist document, three of distributing a terrorist document and three charges of criminal damage.

One of the terrorist documents that the youth shared with another teenager gave details on bombmaking, derailing trains, attacking power lines and kidnapping police officers, as well as glorifying notorious mass murderers.

He possessed and disseminated another manual with “step-by-step” instructions on gun-making.

In mitigation, David Elias KC said the defendant’s parents were in court and were “fully supportive of him”.

He said they thought he had knives for “field craft” in the cadets and knew nothing about his extremist online activities.

Mr Elias said: “(The defendant) was a member of the cadet force and his father allowed him to use that air rifle. A target range was set up in the garden for him to practice what he was already doing at the cadets.”

He added that his collection of gas masks should be seen in the context of his fascination with the Second World War.

The defendant had been diagnosed with autism and during the pandemic found it easier to talk to people and make friends online, the court was told.

Mr Justice Jeremy Baker observed an impression could be formed that the defendant’s parents “cherished their child to the extent he could not do anything wrong”.

Mr Elias replied: “They did not know what he was doing and when they found out they were, as anyone who has seen those videos and messages, absolutely appalled.”

Mr Justice Jeremy Baker is expected to sentence the youth later on Friday.