A neo-Nazi who stashed a crossbow, machetes and knuckledusters at his home and talked about attacking an LGBTQ+ group has been jailed.
Alan Edward, 55, a former journalist who glorified Hitler, was arrested at his home in Redding, Falkirk, a town in Scotland, in September 2022.
Police found at the former journalist’s home, among other things, a crossbow with telescopic sights, 14 knives – some with Nazi and SS insignia – machetes, a tomahawk, a Samurai sword, knuckledusters, a catapult, an extendable baton and a stun gun.
An air pistol modelled on the Walther PPK, the signature weapon of James Bond, was also recovered.
Prosecutors compared Edward’s home to an ‘armoury’.
On top of weapons, an SS-style skull mask, goggles, a respirator, fighting gloves with hardened knuckles and hunting tips for crossbow arrows were found inside Edward’s home.
Edward ‘idolised’ Norwegian neo-Nazi mass murderer Anders Breivik, who killed 77 people in gun and bomb attacks in 2011, police said.
He first landed on the radar of counter-terrorism officers in 2016 after uploading a video of himself at a rally by the far-right group National Action.
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Between December 2017 and September 2022, police found Edward had posted and shared racist, homophobic and violent images, videos and memes.
Edward discussed over WhatsApp an attack against a Falkirk LGBTQ+ group and reportedly said: ‘They have been pushing their luck for years, now they will pay in blood.’
‘We should get masked up and go do a few of them in at their little gay club,’ he added.
The court had previously heard Edward wrote: ‘The quickest way to someone’s heart is with a high power 7.62mm round.’
Edward was found guilty of planning a series of terrorist crimes including intending to commit an act of terrorism as well as racism, anti-Semitism, Holocaust denial and statutory breach of the peace in September.
He was jailed today for 10 years by the High Court in Glasgow.
The Equality Network, one of the largest LGBTQ+ organisations in Scotland, said Edward’s sentencing comes just as the country is celebrating 10 years of marriage equality.
‘However, with incidents such as this, we’re sadly reminded that prejudice and discrimination are still an everyday reality for LGBTQ+ people in Scotland,’ the group told Metro.
‘Whilst this is one isolated, and extreme, incident, we know that prejudice, and fear of violence, against the LGBTQ+ community still exists.’
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Homophobic hate crime is the second most reported type of the offence in Scotland, with 1,818 charges made in 2023-24.
‘So when opponents of LGBTQ+ equality say, “well don’t you have equality?”, the answer is evidently no and there is still so much work to be done in Scotland to eradicate prejudice and discrimination for LGBTQ+ people,’ Equality Network added.
‘Like everyone else in Scotland, LGBTQ+ people just want to live a life of dignity in a human rights-respecting Scotland.
‘We deserve peace, we deserve security and we deserve the freedom to be ourselves and exist without threat of attack.’
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