An amateur scientist who stockpiled explosives and cyanide in his shed while sending messages about gunning down Muslims and gassing Jews was jailed for 45 months today.
Harry Whittaker, 33, stored homemade explosives together with radioactive and lethal poisons in a garden shed he dubbed ‘The Laboratory’, where he conducted regular experiments that released acrid fumes into neighbours’ gardens.
He labelled his cyanide sample as ‘Zyklon B’ alongside a skull and crossbones, after the poison used in the Holocaust, which he claimed to have done to ‘brighten up his day’.
Nazi paraphernalia including a Swastika flag were found in his room, and a framed photograph of Adolf Hitler hung above his bed, at the family home in the village of Caddington, near Luton.
Whittaker referred to Pakistani people in messages to his family as ‘P****’ and described black people as ‘n******’ and ‘s***-skinned’, but previously described himself as ‘friendly and tolerant of anyone’.
Giving evidence in court, he revealed entrenched Islamophobic views, describing the religion as ‘barbaric’ and claiming it is incompatible with Western society.
He insisted the foul slurs in messages and notes were simply jokes, and claimed his Aspergers, ADHD, and autism meant he had ‘no filter’.
Whittaker, who used the name ‘Harry the Mad Scientist’ on WhatsApp, was convicted of two charges of possessing an explosive substance and two charges of making an explosive substance.
Harry Whittaker, 33, was jailed for 45 months at the Old Bailey after being convicted of explosives charges
He conducted regular experiments and stored dangerous chemicals in a garden shed, which he dubbed ‘The Laboratory’
A large number of bottles, jars and vials lined the shelves of the dingy shed
He had previous convictions for assault and dangerous driving in 2019 related to his use of drugs and ‘disorganised lifestyle’, the court heard.
Judge Simon Mayo, KC, sentencing at the Old Bailey, said: ‘Your conduct gave rise to a risk of harm to others. Although I cannot be sure you had the explosives for a violent purpose, you spoke about it and contemplated it.’
The judge described Whittaker as a ‘highly intelligent and articulate individual’ and found his culpability was not significantly diminished by mental impairment.
‘I do not accept your ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder) impaired your ability to distinguish between right and wrong,’ said Judge Mayo.
Whittaker’s neighbours had become accustomed to the sound of muffled explosions and plumes of smoke billowing from his garden laboratory.
George Nedechev said fumes from the experiments were so frequent and acrid that he and his family had to keep the windows shut and were effectively ‘hostages’ in their own home.
Whittaker was so obsessed with his experiments that he would forget to sleep – and could not answer the door to the house unless his mother was there.
He built up an alarming collection of samples, including deadly potassium cyanide and mildly radioactive uranium.
He was arrested after calling an ambulance to say he was suffering from breathing difficulties after handling the chemicals, and police discovered his trove of chemicals and vile racial threats.
Whittaker was said to be so obsessed by his experiments that he sometimes would not sleep
An aerial view of the house in Caddington, near Luton, where police discovered the toxic stash
Officers found a handwritten manifesto that included clauses such as ‘worship Hitler’, ‘avoid gays’, ‘make explosives’, and ‘discriminate against other people of other religions and race’.
A canister containing a burnt powder had a homemade label attached reading: ‘Warning, danger – extremely explosive, keep away from fire and children, and use on Jews only’.
In his room was a homemade rocket that he had managed to launch 20 metres into the air using just 50 grams of special, homemade solid fuel.
They also found an instruction manual for making explosives titled ‘Uncle Fester’, named after the ‘Addams Family’ character often seen blowing up parts of his home in the films and 1950s TV series.
Asked about his experiments, Whittaker said it was a hobby ‘like collecting Pokemon cards’, and the poison sample was ‘part of my collection’.
Questioned about the ‘Zyklon B’ label, he said: ‘It makes me smile. It’s cyanide so whenever someone mentions cyanide, you think of Zyklon B.
‘There was no real motive behind it. It was just to make me smile,’ he added.
Whittaker said he knew Zyklon B was linked to the holocaust but insisted the label was ‘like a Frankie Boyle joke’.
He said he had few friends and that in the past has ‘struggled with what to say and what to joke about’.
Whittaker admitted to having sent texts using racist terms, and to having once spoken about driving ‘a tank covered in flame throwers and machine guns into Luton central mosque’, but insisted he was ‘only joking’.
The 33-year-old Whittaker lived at the family home, which he barely ever left
Neighbours said that acrid fumes coming from Whittaker’s experiments meant they had to keep windows shut
Whittaker insisted he had no intention of harming anyone, and he was simply fulfilling his ‘nerdy’ hobby
Among his many samples was ‘yellow cake’ – a mildly radioactive uranium concentrate which Whittaker said he had bought from the internet.
But he explained he was ‘just a nerdy kid who likes doing science.’
Giving evidence, Whittaker said he would never have harmed anyone.
‘I would never do anything like that, I’d never do anything to harm people, I’ve had this for nine, maybe ten years now.’
He said he was given 20mg of potassium cyanide in a bucket by someone he used to work with.
Whittaker said he did not want to put it in a bin because he was worried Muslims might use it to attack Jewish people.
He said: ‘I didn’t want to put it in the bin because there are lots of Muslims in Luton, there’s a large terrorism presence, the 7/7 bombers came from Luton.
‘If I put it in a bin and a terrorist finds it, I’d feel responsible if he decided to put it in water tank in Golders Green or something ridiculous.’
He told the jury he had no criminal record, but the prosecution revealed he had been convicted of causing actual bodily harm to his neighbour when she tried to stop him using a car while under the influence of drugs.
He said he criticised Islam because he disagrees with its principles and said the government and police had given Muslims ‘a green light to rape children’.
‘Having a politically incorrect joke with Dad in a private, encrypted WhatsApp pales in comparison to systematically raping children en masse in Muslim-only gangs with protection of the police and government,’ he said.
He said that while he would not racially abuse anyone in public he did use racist language in private.
Whittaker added: ‘The thing is in Luton pretty much all white people I’ve met speak in this way behind closed doors, it’s not just me and my parents, it’s literally everyone I’ve met.
‘We don’t really have any problem with Chinese people or Indian people, it’s mainly just Muslims, and the barbaric fifth-century stance that religion has taken.
‘They still stone people to death in public and until recently in Saudi Arabia women weren’t allowed to drive. It’s a very backwards culture and incompatible with Western culture on a fundamental level.’
His mother, Suzanne Whittaker gave evidence and said she did not know what her son did in his shed, but that the Zyklon B label was an example of his ‘dark humour.’
Whittaker denied the charges, but was convicted of four counts of possessing an explosive substance and two counts of making an explosive substance on or before May 6 last year.
He was cleared of two charges of possessing an explosive substance.
He admitted a charge under the Poisons Act and having ammunition without a licence.
Chief Superintendent Jaki Whittred from Bedfordshire Police said: ‘Our officers quickly recognised the serious and potential danger in the devices and chemicals found in Mr Whittaker’s possession, and as a result fortunately no-one was harmed by his reckless actions.
‘I would like to thank the Caddington community for their understanding and support throughout this, and the specialist officers from the Met who were brought in to investigate this complex investigation.
‘This case is an important reminder for the public to reach out to police if they have concerns about someone who might be acting suspiciously.’