A would-be terrorist with an ‘armoury’ of weapons including a crossbow and 14 knives has been jailed for 10 years for planning an attack on gay and transgender people.
Alan Edward, 54, amassed a terrifying collection of weaponry at his home in Redding, Stirlingshire.
The neo-Nazi, who glorified Hitler, also had a Samurai sword, knuckledusters, baton and stun gun stashed at his home alongside with Nazi and SS insignia.
Police also found an air pistol, an SS-style skull mask, fighting gloves with specially-hardened knuckles, pellets and ball bearings.
Prosecutors said Edward was ‘a man with clear neo-Nazi ideals… preparing for an act of terrorism’ which would include ‘an ideologically-driven incident of serious violence’.
The former journalist was convicted of four charges under the Terrorism Act following a trial in Stirling in September.
He was sentenced by Judge Fiona Tait at the High Court in Glasgow today.
Edward appeared via video-link from prison where he had been on remand since September 2022.
Alan Edward was sentenced by Judge Fiona Tait at the High Court in Glasgow today
Edward has been jailed for 10 years for plotting a terror attack on gay and transgender people
She told him that he ‘publicly and extensively posted views of an extreme right-wing nature’ and was found ‘in possession of numerous items’ in circumstances that gave rise to suspicion it could be linked to a terrorist act.
Judge Tait added: ‘The author of the risk assessment on you assesses you at high risk of re-offending.
‘For such serious offences there is no appropriate alternative to a prison sentence.
‘It is necessary to punish you and deter you and others from engaging in activities for the purposes of terrorism and to protect the public from you.’
Edward will also be monitored for five years on his release.
Judge Tait further imposed a serious crime prevention order – known as a super-Asbo – which are designed to tackle and restrict the activities of criminals on their eventual release.
This will also be for five years.
Edward – who had 28,000 followers on social media – was known to be a Holocaust denier.
He also mocked the murder of George Floyd, killed by a white police officer in Minneapolis in May 2020.
A document found on his computer referred to Norwegian neo-Nazi mass murderer Anders Breivik who killed 77 people during his murderous spree in 2011 as ‘Saint Anders’.
Jurors heard Edward was said to have ‘notions of white supremacy, racial purity of whites, racism, anti-Semitism and hatred of homosexuals and transgender people’.
Checks on his WhatsApp account revealed he had been messaging an associate in nearby Grangemouth – identified as ‘Pello’ – about a proposed attack on the LGBT group, which met in Falkirk.
He’d used bigoted language in a series of texts expressing his desire to kill members of the transgender and Jewish communities with the messages described as ‘incredibly sinister’.
Edward remarked of the LGBT group: ‘They have been pushing their luck for years. Now they will pay in blood.’
He added: ‘We should get masked up and go do a few of them in at their little club.’
Edward also had two accounts on Gab – a free speech social media platform popular with the far-right.
He came to the attention of counter-terrorism investigators after posting a video glorifying a banned far right group called National Action.
Dad-of-one Edward who was arrested in September 2022 had denied the accusations that he faced.
The charges he was found guilty of included having ammunition and equipment for the commission, preparation or instigation of terrorist acts and encouraging terrorism.
He was separately convicted of racism, anti-Semitism, Holocaust denial and a breach of the peace.
The would-be terrorist was further guilty of producing and supplying cannabis, possession of a stun gun as well as threatening and abusive behaviour.
Would-be terrorist Edward had a huge stash of weapons at his home in Redding, Stirlingshire
Allan MacLeod, defending, yesterday said: ‘It is clear his online activities are not to be repeated. He understands that.
‘He simply wants to put this matter behind him and concentrate on the future.’
Edward was also made subject of the Counter Terrorism Act notification requirements.
This is a further method to keep track of him when he is released – such as providing the police with his address and passport number.
Following the sentencing, Detective Superintendent Stephen Clark, head of counter terrorism investigations at Police Scotland, said: ‘Edward shared extreme racist and homophobic content online with the aim of stirring up hatred and spreading fear and alarm.
‘His complete disregard for the corrosive impact this could have on our communities heightened these dangerous actions.
‘It is entirely unacceptable to promote terrorism or extremism, and this conviction displays how we will not hesitate to investigate online or offline behaviour which breaches terrorism or other criminal legislation.
‘Holding an array of weaponry posed a clear and significant risk to the public which underlines the importance of him being brought to justice.’