21/01/25
Britain's new terror threat: The 'loners' and 'misfits' who became radicalised by extreme violence online as PM Keir Starmer demands change in terrorism laws in wake of Southport killings
Sir Keir Starmer today warned of a new threat of 'extreme violence' coming from 'loners' and 'misfits' being radicalised in their bedrooms as he addressed the nation following the guilty pleas of Southport triple killer Axel Rudakubana.
The Prime Minister expressed his horror at the missed opportunities to stop Rudakubana before he went on to horrifically murder three young girls at a Taylor Swift-themed dance party in Southport last July.
After admitting murder at Liverpool Crown Court yesterday, Rudakubana's long history of violence was laid bare.
He was referred to the government's counter-terrorism Prevent programme three times between December 2019 and April 2021 over his obsession with violence. He had been visited by police several times in the months before the Southport attack.
A week before the stabbings, Rudakubana's father prevented him from carrying out what could have been Britain's first school massacre.
But his problems had intensified before that. Pupils at Range High School recall his obsession with figures including Genghis Khan and Adolf Hitler.
In October 2019, he was expelled from the school aged 13 after calling Childline up to say he was going to take a knife to school because of racial bullying.
Rudakubana, dubbed a 'ticking timebomb' by one former pupil - returned that December with a hockey stick and broke a pupil's wrist. Footage has also surfaced of him being restrained by other pupils as he launched a classroom attack.
Between October 2019 and May 2022, police responded to five calls from his home address due to concerns about his behaviour.
As his long history of violent behaviour was revealed yesterday, Sir Keir said: 'Britain now faces a new threat. Terrorism has changed. In the past, the predominant threat was highly organised groups with clear political intent. Groups like Al-Qaeda.
'That threat of course remains. But now, alongside that we also see acts of extreme violence perpetrated by loners, misfits, young men in their bedroom, accessing all manner of material online, desperate for notoriety.
Sometimes inspired by traditional terrorist groups. But fixated on that extreme violence, seemingly for its own sake.
'Now, it may well be that people like this are harder to spot. But we can't shrug our shoulders and accept that.
'We can't have a national security system that fails to tackle people who are a danger to our values, our security, our children. We have to be ready to face every threat.'
Following the Prime Minister's speech, MailOnline looks at the young, isolated men who have been radicalised by extreme violence from their own homes.
Ali Harbi Ali
The IS fanatic was handed a whole-life sentence for murdering Sir David Amess MP during a constituency surgery in Essex.
Ali stabbed the Conservative MP for Southend West more than 20 times after tricking his way into the surgery at Belfairs Methodist Church in Leigh-on-Sea on October 15 2021.
The jury took just 18 minutes to convict Ali of murder and preparing acts of terrorism. The trial had heard how the 'lone wolf' had planned to die as a 'martyr', assuming he would be shot by police.
Ali grew up in Croydon, south London, with his mother and three siblings, where neighbours described him as a 'happy boy' who often played football in the street.
He attended Parish Church Junior and Infant school - now Minster Junior - in Croydon, which was a short walk from his home, and he is thought to be one of the first Muslim pupils in the Christian School.
He was later joined there by his two sisters and brother with teachers recalling that Ali and his siblings all took part in Christian practice, despite their Muslim faith.
At the time of his arrest, Ali was living with an aunt and two cousins in Kentish Town, North London, while his father stayed with his sister just a few miles away in Wood Green, North London.
Despite having never been in trouble with police before, the court heard how he had been self-radicalised from 2014 amid the war in Syria.
The defendant, who described himself as a 'moderate Muslim', said it was in 'revenge' because Sir David had voted in Parliament for UK support for air strikes in Syria in 2014 and 2015.
The court heard that Ali became known to authorities around this time as his school performance plunged and he was referred to the Government's Prevent strategy, but continued plotting in secret.
The so-called 'lone wolf' sent a manifesto on WhatsApp to family and friends seeking to justify his actions around the time of the attack, and told Sir David he was 'sorry' before plunging the knife into him, causing the politician to scream.
Ali told police he had got instructions on how to carry out a knife attack from watching ISIS videos.
He had also downloaded images of the ISIS executioner known as 'Jihadi John', along with words encouraging 'lone wolf' attacks.
Jake Davison - Plymouth shooting
Plymouth gunman Jake Davison killed five people including his mother Maxine in August 2021.
He fatally shot her before going on to kill Sophie Martyn, three, her father, Lee, 43, Stephen Washington, 59, and Kate Shepherd, 66.
An inquest jury heard how the killer was fascinated by mass shootings, serial killers and violent heroes of 'incel' ideology.
The jury also heard how he held strongly misogynist views and despair about his own life in the months before the mass shooting.
Families of four of the victims said: 'Warning signs were ignored and a licence to kill was granted.'
On the afternoon he carried out the attack, which ended with him killing himself, he had viewed an online thread asking why 'incels' felt the need to take their own lives.
He also searched for posts on kidnapping and detransitioning.
Davison had been fascinated by guns since he was a boy and in May 2012, Career South West noted: 'He loves guns and wants to join a gun club.'
In 2016, his own mother raised concerns with Career South West about her son's fixations with firearms. Staff were so worried that they passed on information to the Prevent programme, but the official did not feel it met the criteria for a formal referral.
One of his former teachers also expressed fury over why he was allowed to own a shotgun, given his obsession with firearms from a young age.
Jonathan Williams, who taught English, drama and music to Davison at Mount Tamar special school in the Devon city, told MailOnline at the time: 'You have to ask, what the hell were they thinking giving him this licence?
'If you ask anyone who was involved in Jake's schooling whether giving him a licence was a good idea, they would all tell you absolutely not.
'How is it possible that a police officer read Jake's history of obsessive compulsive disorder, anger issues and depression and concluded he should be allowed to own a firearm?
'It was a catastrophic mistake with utterly tragic consequences. Something went badly awry and you can't help but feel this whole tragedy could have been avoided.'
The court heard how before the attack, Davison made 'disturbing' online posts and searches.
In April 2021, he posted a video about an assault he carried out over someone who called him fat, saying: This is why incels were more prone to killing themselves – or going on a killing spree.'
And in July 2021, he referred to himself as the 'black sheep' of the family and spoke of his 'self hatred'. Three days before the attack, he was searching for information about serial killer Ted Bundy and incel murderers and watched videos of firearms and how to use them.
Nasen Saadi - murdered personal trainer
The knife-obsessed criminology student who called himself the 'Nina Killer' online was found guilty of murdering personal trainer Amie Gray in Bournemouth.
Nasen Saadi, 20, stabbed 34-year-old Mrs Gray to death in a 'horrifying' attack at Durley Chine Beach, West Undercliff Promenade, on May 24. He was also found guilty of the attempted murder of Leanne Miles.
Saadi, who had 'wanted to be the star of a true crime episode', launched a savage assault on the two women as they were enjoying a late night chat next to a small fire to keep warm on the beach.
Saadi was 'fascinated' with knives and had bought six blades from websites, with several found at his aunt's house where he was living as well as at his parents' home.
A nine-day trial at Winchester Crown Court heard Saadi was enrolled as a student at Greenwich University in London where he studied criminology - but 'his interest was not precisely academic'.
The trial heard that Saadi was interested in true crime, horror movies and knives which he bought on the internet and had called himself 'Ninja killer' for his username on Snapchat.
He was found to have obsessed over methods of murder and 'high profile' stabbings such as the murder of teenager Brianna Ghey - and looked up 'busiest beaches' as he plotted his crime.
Prosecutors claimed Saadi wanted to know how it felt to take a life and to gain the 'notoriety a killing of this sort might bring him'.
His tutors told the court that he had shown a 'degree of specific interest in matters not related to the subject of his lectures' and 'plied' them with questions relating to forensics, DNA, self defence, and policing.
Academic Lisa-Maria Reiss told jurors Saadi asked her questions on 'how to get away with murder' and asked 'how often' a self-defence argument would 'go through' if a 'person was attacked first'.
His questions prompted her to ask him 'You're not planning a murder are you?' - to which Saadi did not respond.
In March, Saadi is said to have researched 'why is it harder for a killer to be caught if he does it in another town' and 'which is the deadliest knife'.
The following month, he allegedly carried out online searches for the 'busiest beaches' and then the following day looked at 'whether Bournemouth beach was open at night' and if sand or pebbles were easiest to run on.
He even went as far as to search which hotels in the area had CCTV.
Two days before the alleged attack, Saadi went to the cinema and watched 'The Strangers – Chapter 1' which the prosecutor described as a 'slasher home invasion movie' where the male and female leads are both stabbed.
Callum Parslow - asylum seeker attack
The Nazi-obsessed man was last week jailed for attempted murder after stabbing an asylum seeker in a terrorist attack.
Parslow, 31, was handed a life sentence with a minimum of 22 years and eight months after knifing Nahom Hagos, from Eritrea, at a Worcestershire hotel on April 2 last year as a 'protest' against small boat crossings.
The attacker has Hitler's signature tattooed on his arm and used a £770 knife he had bought online from the US to stab his victim.
The judge, Mr Justice Dove, told the court Parslow was 'motivated by your adoption of a far-right neo-Nazi mindset which fuelled your warped, violent and racist views', adding: 'This was undoubtedly a terrorist attack.'
His hands covered in blood, he was holding his phone and frantically trying to send out a far-right 'terrorist manifesto' to media organisations and public figures such as Nigel Farage, via the X social media platform.
The manifesto started: 'My name is Callum Ulysses Parslow and I just did my duty to England. They will call me a terrorist, they will call me an extremist. I am neither.
'I am but a gardener who tended to the great garden of England.'
Police searching his house discovered a swastika armband, a NAzi-era medallion and copies of Hitler's book Mein Kampf. They also found an axe, metal baseball bat and a second knife.
Eleven clips of the Christchurch mosque attacks in March 2019 were also found on his phone together with the shooting in El Paso, Texas, in August 2019 and the attacks at Dayton, the Garlic festival and the Anders Breivik attack in Norway.
A search of the boy's bedroom - who declared his heroes as Adolf Hitler and James Mason - revealed several knives, air rifles, face coverings and camouflage face paint.
Also discovered by detectives were shotgun cartridges and bullet casings, tools and camping equipment and two makeshift cardboard targets.
A notebook was seized containing swastikas, details of lone wolf attacks as well as a mocked up logo representing an extreme-Right group he wanted to form.
Luca Benincasa - young neo-Nazi
The Welsh neo-Nazi, 20, was jailed for at least six years after being convicted of belonging to the Feuerkrieg Division, a banned white supremacist group.
A Nazi dagger, Schutzstaffel (SS) officer's hat and swastika armband were among items discovered in his bedroom when police raided his separated parents' homes.
The court also heard that Benincasa browsed the internet for 'forced teen porn', 'rape games' and 'child sacrifice'.
He pleaded guilty in July last year to membership of the FKD and four counts of collecting information likely to be of use to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism on or before February 1, 2022.
The group, which primarily exists online, was banned in July 2020.
Benincasa also pleaded guilty in August to three counts of possessing indecent images of children, one count of possessing an extreme pornographic image and one count of possessing a prohibited image of a child between December 29, 2021 and January 1, 2022, for which he was also sentenced.
Paul Dunleavy - far-right teenager
The 17-year-old boy, from Ruby, with far-Right views and who offered to build weapons for people online was jailed for terrorism offences in 2020.
Dunleavy had become a member of the far-Right group Feuerkrieg Division (FKD) in July 2019 and started several online conversations.
The boy expressed his extreme views in the chats and indicated he was planning or had already converted a blank firing weapon into a viable firearm.
Police found his phone had more than 90 documents on firearms, explosives and military tactics, extreme Right-wing online material and the online chats.
He was sentenced to five-and-a-half years in jail for collecting terrorism information and the commission, preparation and instigation of terrorism.
He had admitted nine counts of collecting terrorism information, and a jury found him guilty of the commission, preparation and instigation of terrorism.
Benincasa's bedroom in his father's house in Cardiff, where he spent most of his time was full of Nazi memorabilia when police conducted a raid on February 1 last year, including parts of an SS officer's uniform, a dagger, two airsoft rifles, skull balaclavas and full-size body armour.
A flag depicting the logo of the SS, Adolf Hitler's paramilitary organisation, was hanging on Benincasa's bedroom wall alongside a fascist Italian flag.
He had also taken photos of himself on his phone wearing the SS uniform with his face covered and, on different occasions throughout 2021, brandishing a Stanley knife, a rifle and an SS dagger.
Benincasa's laptop was found to contain extreme right-wing literature and documents, including instructions on security and how to make explosives, poisons and firearms, mostly downloaded from the Telegram app.
An unfinished 'Feuerkrieg Division Handbook' was also discovered.
The draft said the organisation does not 'encourage' illegal activities but would not 'disavow' a 'true warrior' who 'takes up arms and fights for the sake of our race'.
It lists enemies as the Government, anti-fascist activists and journalists.
Police also found a 'manifesto' drafted by Benincasa, described by prosecutors as 'extremely racist' and 'extremely antisemitic'.
It said the fact that a 'criminal scumbag aka George Floyd had more outbreak over his death than the 13 marines that died in Afghanistan says a lot about the world we live in', and that 'ethnostates are the only solution', to be 'achieved by force or takeover' because a 'race war is inevitable'.
Analysis of Benincasa's Instagram and Snapchat accounts between March 2021 and January 2022 revealed messages written by him such as: 'I'm a neo... nazi', 'I am an extremist I commit multiple acts of hate crimes' and 'told my mum I wanna be a terrorist... little does she know I'm currently classed as one already'.
After the men's football Euros final between England and Italy on July 11, 2021, Benincasa messaged someone to say: 'All the black England players missed.'
The prosecution said investigators identified at least 33 one-to-one Telegram threads in which Benincasa was 'actively recruiting' people to join FKD.
Examples were read out in court in which prospective members would send applications to Benincasa, and if they were acceptable he would send 'propaganda' and instruct them to print and put up flyers in their local areas and ask them to send photos of themselves 'to check their skin colour'.
He told one applicant: 'I usually want to genocide anyone that's not white.'
Most applicants said they were under 18, the court heard.
In April 2022, two months after his arrest, Benincasa's cell at HMP Chelmsford was searched and officers discovered right-wing and Satanic graffiti on the walls, door and table.
His prison calls were monitored and revealed conversations between March and July 2022 with other young people in which Benincasa identified with incel culture and laughed about news articles about his case.
Mohammad Farooq - plotted hospital bomb attack
The 'lone wolf' Islamic terrorist who plotted to blow up his hospital was radicalised after watching dozens of TikTok videos promoting jihadism and anti-semitism.
Trainee nurse Mohammad Sohail Farooq, 28, was convicted of plotting the atrocity at St James's Hospital in Leeds after immersing himself in an 'extremist Islamic ideology' and planning to 'seek his own martyrdom' through a 'murderous terrorist attack'.
In the early hours of January 20 2023, he took a viable home-made bomb to his own workplace, modelled on the device used to kill three people at the Boston Marathon in 2013, but with double the amount of explosives.
Farooq - whose wife was pregnant with their second child - agreed to call off his plan after brave patient Nathan Newby by chance engaged him in conversation outside the building, giving him a hug and telling him to think about his children.
Sheffield Crown Court heard how Farooq watched 30 TikTok videos pushing jihadist and anti-Semitic messages.
In one of the videos, from a group called Millatu Ibrahim, a preacher said: 'With the sword, Islam is established, forcing them to accept the religion. Don't be shy of being called a terrorist. Yes, we are terrorists. Yes, we are fundamentalists.'
Jurors were also told that on August 31, 2022, Farooq accessed a TikTok video listing the seven 'blessings of the martyr' including that they would be 'forgiven from the first drop of blood, married to maidens of paradise, and permitted to intercede for 70 of his relatives.'
Meanwhile, two videos showed images of the al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem, and one had the words: 'Our men and women and soldiers chant khaybar oh Jews [expel the Jews]. The army of Mohammed will return, we have Quds [Jerusalem] in our promise.'
Another featured Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stating that Palestinians had 'dreams of re-establishing the Caliphate'.
The court also heard that Farooq looked at a video headlined: 'Jewish people say the Jews will control the world.'
Prosecutors said Farooq had originally intended to attack RAF Menwith Hill - a North Yorkshire military base used by the United States that had been identified as a target by so-called Islamic State.
Movements of Farooq's mobile phone and car showed he made at least two visits to the area of Menwith Hill in the 10 days leading up to his arrest, jurors were told.
Mr Sandiford said the base had been designated as a target by IS because it was believed it had been used to co-ordinate drone strikes against terrorists.
When he thought that was not possible, jurors were told Farooq then switched to the 'softer and less well-protected target' of St James's Hospital.
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