Teen who drew image of Auschwitz on a mock GCSE paper is spared jail
A teenager who was reported to counter-terror police after drawing a picture of Auschwitz on a mock GCSE paper has been spared jail.
The 16-year-old boy, who cannot be named, filled notebooks with racist thoughts, had online chats with white supremacist groups and filmed himself throwing a petrol bomb, a court heard.
Teachers at the boy’s school became so concerned over slogans and pictures he scrawled on a mock GCSE paper – including a picture of Auschwitz with word ‘lies’ – that they eventually called counter-terror police.
When officers arrived at his home in Stockton-on-Tees in December 2023 they discovered a ‘shocking catalogue of extreme right wing material’.
The teen was today spared jail and instead received a three-year youth rehabilitation order despite the judge telling him he ‘thoroughly deserved to go to custody’.
A teenager who was reported to counter-terror police after drawing a picture of Auschwitz on a mock GCSE paper has been spared jail (Stock image)
Leeds Crown Court heard how when officers arrived to the boy’s house, his mother asked counter-terror officers: ‘It’s about my son, isn’t it?’ and already had a range of items ready for them to inspect on the dining table.
The judge said officers discovered a drawing of a gas mask, accompanied by ‘6MWE’ – a reference to the holocaust meaning ‘six million was not enough’.
There were also references to the proscribed organisation, the Atomwaffen Division and a Star of David surrounded by the words ‘lies’.
The court heard one red notebook was full of material that showed an ‘extreme far-right-wing ideology’.
Police also discovered 78 chats the boy had engaged with on the Telegram platform, which included the sharing of videos of well-known terror atrocities.
In one, the defendant had added a soundtrack to a live stream video of the 2019 Christchurch mosque attacks in New Zealand.
The court heard how the police found a video of the teenager wearing a skull mask and throwing a petrol bomb to the floor.
A judge was told this showed the boy’s offending ‘goes beyond that of being a keyboard warrior’.
Leeds Crown Court (pictured) heard the 16-year-old boy, who cannot be named, filled notebooks with racist thoughts, had online chats with white supremacist groups and filmed himself throwing a petrol bomb
In mitigation, the court heard he was ‘very vulnerable’ and had been groomed after speaking to other people while playing roleplaying games online.
The boy admitted five counts of collecting information likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism, three counts of disseminating terrorist publications, one offence of criminal damage and one of racially aggravated criminal damage.
The judge, Tom Bayliss KC, said the boy was ‘highly radicalised’ and ‘must have sought out’ material such as footage of the Christchurch mosque attacks.
He told the defendant: ‘You thoroughly deserve to go to custody, but I’m not going to send you to custody.’
As well as the youth rehabilitation order, the boy was made subject to a criminal behaviour order for three years.
