Three right-wing extremists who idolised Hitler and believed a race war was imminent have been found guilty of planning terrorist attacks on mosques and synagogues.
Christopher Ringrose, Marco Pitzettu and Brogan Stewart were convicted at Sheffield Crown Court on Wednesday, after a jury rejected their claims that they were fantasists who were not serious when they discussed attacks online.
After infiltrating their online group, counter-terrorism police moved in February 2024 to arrest Ringrose, a 34-year-old from Cannock in Staffordshire, Pitzettu, aged 25, of Mickleover in Derbyshire, and Stewart, 25, from Tingley in Wakefield.
Warning that the defendants would have attacked places of worship and education with potentially fatal consequences if not for their arrest, Superintendent James Dunkerley said the trio had amassed more than 200 weapons, including machetes, swords, crossbows, body armour and a stun gun.
But Supt Dunkerley – who is head of counter-terror policing in North East England – said it was “most concerning” that they had tried to acquire a gun and that this led them to build a 3D printed firearm.
Ringrose had 3D-printed most of the components of a semi-automatic firearm at the time of his arrest and was trying to get the remaining parts, their nine-week-long trial heard.
The trio were found guilty on Wednesday of a charge of preparing acts of terrorism and charges of collecting information likely to be useful to a person preparing or committing an act of terrorism.
Ringrose was also convicted of manufacturing a prohibited weapon, while Pitzettu had pleaded guilty to obtaining an illegal stun gun at a previous hearing.
A previous court hearing was told that the trio were accused of identifying an Islamic education centre as a potential target.
Supt Dunkerley said: “We saw this building of a firearm, and we saw them then changing their conversation and an uptick in their hatred and looking to identify a real-world target, which could have been talk of a synagogue, an Islamic institution, a mosque, education.”
“When we saw that uptick changing, and they were looking to come out into the real world, that’s when we took the action to arrest them,” the senior officer added.
“That was a tipping point for us. The protection of the public was absolutely paramount, and this wasn’t some fantasy.”
Despite not being believed to have met in person, the three defendants formed an online group of extremists, unaware that a number of those who joined were undercover officers, the court was told.
Supt Dunkerley said: “These individuals have come together in an online space, and what brought them together was extreme racial prejudice. They held extreme racist views. They idolised the Nazi Party.
“There was adoration for mass murderers, and they held really extreme views against people who didn’t look like them.
“Those views were amplified in that online space, encouraged between them, and they looked then to start what I think was prepping for a real-world attack.”
The defendants are due to be sentenced on 17 July. The judge, Mrs Justice Cutts, told them: “You must all expect substantial custodial sentences.”
Prosecutor Jonathan Sandiford KC told the trial that the trio all held a “belief that there must soon be a race war between the white and other races”, and had formed a group in January 2024 with “like-minded extremists” who wanted to “go to war for their chosen cause”.
Mr Sandiford told the court that Stewart had set up a group called Einsatz 14 with himself as “Fuhrer” and an undercover officer as the “Obergruppenfuhrer”, which the other two defendants also joined.
Stewart discussed torturing a Muslim leader using his “information extraction kit” with the undercover officer and said he hoped to “extort political rivals and potentially plan operations to meet migrants landing on our beaches and deal with them”, Mr Sandiford said.
The court also heard that Stewart sent the undercover officer a list of “standard uniform” for Einsatz 14, which included a Black SS helmet, “mask, balaclava, skull face mask or anything to hide identity”, as well as a Swastika armband which “must be earned”.
Mr Sandiford said potential recruits were sent a vetting form asking their opinions on the SS Nazi paramilitary group and to detail why they hated particular minority groups more than others, and that Stewart had developed a mission statement, which said members’ “basis duties” included to “target mosques, Islamic education centres and other similar locations”.
Mr Sandiford said the group discussed potential targets at the end of January 2024, with Steward sending the undercover officer details and a Google Maps image of an Islamic education centre.
When the officer asked Stewart for more detailed information about the plan, he replied that they could smash windows or ambush someone, the court was told.
According to Mr Sandiford, Stewart said: “It depends how far we are willing to go. It could be a beating with batons and bats or something more serious.”
Additional reporting by PA
