Jurors have retired in the trial of an actor accused of having a stash of extreme right-wing material.
Former The Brit School of performing arts student Declan George Candiani, 26, was stopped by counter-terrorism police at Stansted airport as he attempted to go on holiday to Finland with his girlfriend, on August 13 2024.
On seeing the contents of his phone, officers arrested him and searched the home he shares with his mother in Streatham, south-west London.
Further examination of Candiani’s iPhone and iPad revealed a cache of extreme right-wing material that included “manifestos” of mass killers and documents advocating the use of serious violence to achieve white supremacy, the Old Bailey heard.
Giving evidence in his trial, Candiani denied wrongdoing and claimed his main interest was in Satanism.
Candiani has denied four charges of collection of information likely to be useful for terrorism.
At 12.15pm on Thursday, Judge Nigel Lickley KC sent jurors out to begin deliberating on verdicts in the Old Bailey trial.
Later, Judge Lickley broke news of Thursday’s fatal attack at a synagogue in Manchester to jurors as he sent them home for the evening at 4.15pm.
He said: “Before I give you some legal direction I need to bring something to your attention. You will hear, I suspect, almost immediately when your mobile phones are returned to you that there was an incident this morning in Manchester.
“A person attacked members of the Jewish community at a synagogue.
“There have been some fatalities and there have been injuries. As I understand it the perpetrator has also died.
“I mentioned it because it goes without saying that incident has nothing to do with this case, the issues that you have to decide.
“You try this defendant on the evidence you hear in this court, and what you read and hear about that incident plays no part in your decision making.”
