Teenage neo-Nazi who encouraged far-right terrorism locked up for two years
Thomas Leech, 19, glorified violence against Jews and believed conspiracy theories that Jews were planning the “Great Replacement” of the white race.
A teenage neo-Nazi who glorified and encouraged far-right terrorism against Jews and Muslims has been locked up for two years.
Bespectacled Thomas Leech, 19, believed conspiracy theories that the Jews were planning the “Great Replacement” of the white race through extinction and the “Islamicisation” of Europe, Manchester Crown Court heard.
The autistic youngster had become an isolated, lonely and vulnerable figure who rarely left his home and his far-right online activities “filled a void”, the court was told.
The court heard that after being arrested by counter-terrorism police, he told officers: “I am a Nazi.”
Police found he had posted online a “call to arms” for the white race, glorifying far-right killers, including Anders Breivik, who murdered 69 youngsters in Norway, and Brenton Tarrant, who murdered 51 people at mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, in 2019.
Leech, of Derby Road, Preston, admitted at an earlier hearing three counts of encouraging acts of terrorism and two counts of stirring up religious or racial hatred, between March and November 2020.
He also admitted possessing indecent images of children.
Locking up the defendant for two years in a young offenders institute, Judge Alan Conrad QC said: “The offences you committed are deeply disturbing.”
Earlier Joe Allman, prosecuting, said Leech first came to police attention when he claimed to be planning a shooting at his school, Wetherby High School, in January 2017.
He told police it was a “prank” and received a caution and some intervention.
Leech was referred to Prevent, the Government’s deradicalisation programme, but he “dropped off the radar” when he moved to Gillingham, Kent, in June 2017.
After moving to Preston, Lancashire, in 2020, posts by him on the online platform called Gab, said to be popular amongst the far-right, were found by the Community Security Trust, a charity involved in security for Jewish communities.
Mr Allman said: “The cumulative effect of the posts is a call to arms by Mr Leech, inciting others who shared his world view to commit mass murder.
“They are replete with evidence of antisemitism.”
Leech posted that the Holocaust was a hoax, Jews controlled the world, Third Reich imagery and anti-Muslim content, the court heard.
Breivik and Tarrant, along with Robert Bowers, who murdered 11 people at a synagogue in Pittsburgh in 2018 and Dylann Roof, a white supremacist who murdered nine African-Americans at a church in Charleston in the US in 2015, were talked of in terms of martyrs to the white race, the court heard.
One post was a photo of Tarrant, sat in his car, smiling, just before he went on the rampage, with the words underneath: “What can one person do?”
The court heard there was no evidence Leech’s posts had inspired anyone to commit an offence.
Rachel White, mitigating, said some offences were committed when Leech was aged only 17 or 18 and that he suffered from autism, agoraphobia and bullying, which kept him out of school. She said he rarely left his home, spending his life online.
She added: “He effectively became a keyboard warrior. He was doing it because he needed a feeling of belonging and significance and literally had time on his hands.
“He is ashamed and embarrassed about what he has done.”
Thank you for helping to make Jewish News the leading source of news and opinion for the UK Jewish community. Today we're asking for your invaluable help to continue putting our community first in everything we do.
For as little as £5 a month you can help sustain the vital work we do in celebrating and standing up for Jewish life in Britain.
Jewish News holds our community together and keeps us connected. Like a synagogue, it’s where people turn to feel part of something bigger. It also proudly shows the rest of Britain the vibrancy and rich culture of modern Jewish life.
You can make a quick and easy one-off or monthly contribution of £5, £10, £20 or any other sum you’re comfortable with.
100% of your donation will help us continue celebrating our community, in all its dynamic diversity...
Engaging
Being a community platform means so much more than producing a newspaper and website. One of our proudest roles is media partnering with our invaluable charities to amplify the outstanding work they do to help us all.
Celebrating
There’s no shortage of oys in the world but Jewish News takes every opportunity to celebrate the joys too, through projects like Night of Heroes, 40 Under 40 and other compelling countdowns that make the community kvell with pride.
Pioneering
In the first collaboration between media outlets from different faiths, Jewish News worked with British Muslim TV and Church Times to produce a list of young activists leading the way on interfaith understanding.
Campaigning
Royal Mail issued a stamp honouring Holocaust hero Sir Nicholas Winton after a Jewish News campaign attracted more than 100,000 backers. Jewish Newsalso produces special editions of the paper highlighting pressing issues including mental health and Holocaust remembrance.
Easy access
In an age when news is readily accessible, Jewish News provides high-quality content free online and offline, removing any financial barriers to connecting people.
Voice of our community to wider society
The Jewish News team regularly appears on TV, radio and on the pages of the national press to comment on stories about the Jewish community. Easy access to the paper on the streets of London also means Jewish News provides an invaluable window into the community for the country at large.
We hope you agree all this is worth preserving.
