A teenage boy accused of plotting a terror attack on British synagogues kept a journal in which he wrote that some pupils at his school “should be shot,” a jury at Leeds Crown Court was told.

The 16-year-old, who was not identified due to his age, is on trial accused of preparing acts of terrorism, joining a proscribed neo-Nazi organization, and possessing and publishing terrorist material. He denies all charges.

Jurors were told that counter-terrorism officers uncovered what prosecutors described as an “arsenal” of weapons during a raid on the boy’s home in Northumberland in February last year. The items allegedly seized included a crossbow, multiple knives, a gas-powered air pistol, and several airsoft rifles. Police also discovered homemade explosive devices, prompting the deployment of army bomb disposal teams along with chemical, biological, and radiation specialists.

Inside the boy’s bedroom, officers found disturbing imagery and paraphernalia. Jurors were shown photographs of a replica SS-style cap, posters supporting the banned neo-Nazi group The Base, and a full-sized human skeleton fitted with a mask. Matches and nails taped tightly together were also recovered, along with a spent shotgun cartridge that had been refilled with a white powder. One of the air weapons bore the handwritten name “George Floyd” near the trigger, the court heard.

The jury was also shown extracts from the teenager’s journal, seized during the search. In one entry, he allegedly wrote: “I swear to God I just hate my [expletive] school. I want to do horrible things to the people in my school. Some of them should be shot.”

On the same page, the boy is said to have ranked mass murderers, placing neo-Nazi terrorist Anders Breivik at the top.

Prosecutors allege that the defendant researched synagogues in the Newcastle area shortly after watching footage of the Christchurch mosque attack, one of the deadliest terrorist attacks in recent history.

The court heard that armed officers from Counter Terrorism Policing North East arrested the boy at 7.20am on February 20 last year, while he was dressed in his school uniform.

Detective Sergeant Jonathan Garrad, who took part in the raid, told jurors that after his arrest the teenager “put his head in his hands, bent over and shook his head.”

Under cross-examination by defense counsel Frida Hussain KC, DS Garrad agreed that the boy appeared “shocked and helpless” at the time. He described the search of the property as slow and methodical due to the volume of potentially dangerous material inside. Jurors were told it took a week before the house keys were returned to the boy’s father.

In a set of agreed facts, prosecutor Michelle Heeley KC explained that The Base was founded in the United States by a former FBI analyst and was banned in the UK in 2021. The group, she said, seeks to trigger societal collapse through a race war, with the goal of creating a “white utopia” from the aftermath.

Addressing the jury, Ms Hussain said the defence position was that the teenager never truly intended to carry out a terrorist attack. She urged jurors to consider his age, background, and life experiences, and whether there was an alternative explanation for his actions short of terrorism.

The trial is ongoing.

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)