‘Radicalised’ teenager drew Auschwitz on GCSE paper
A teenager was reported to counter-terror police after he drew a picture of Auschwitz on a mock GCSE paper, a court has heard.
The 16-year-old boy, who cannot be named, filled notebooks with racist thoughts, had online chats with white supremacist groups and filmed himself throwing a petrol bomb, a court heard.
He was given the chance to serve his sentence in the community despite the judge telling him he “thoroughly deserved to go to custody”.
Leeds Crown Court heard that teachers had become so concerned over slogans and pictures he scrawled on a mock GCSE paper – including a picture of Auschwitz with word “lies” – that they called counter-terror police.
When officers arrived at his home in December 2023, his mother told them: “It’s about my son, isn’t it?” and already had a range of items ready for them to inspect on the dining table of their house in Stockton-on-Tees, County Durham.
The judge said officers discovered a “shocking catalogue of extreme Right-wing material” in the house, including a drawing of a gas mask, accompanied by “6MWE” – a reference to the Holocaust meaning “six million was not enough”. There were also references to the Atomwaffen Division, the proscribed organisation, and a Star of David surrounded by the words “lies”.
The police found a video of the teenager wearing a skull mask and throwing a petrol bomb to the floor.
A judge was told this showed the boy’s offending “goes beyond that of being a keyboard warrior”.
In mitigation, the court heard he was “very vulnerable” and had been groomed after speaking to other people while playing role-playing games online.
The boy admitted five counts of collecting information likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism, three counts of disseminating terrorist publications, one offence of criminal damage and one of racially aggravated criminal damage.
The judge, Tom Bayliss KC, said the boy was “highly radicalised” and “must have sought out” material such as footage of the Christchurch mosque attacks, to which he had added a soundtrack.
He told the defendant: “You thoroughly deserve to go to custody, but I’m not going to send you to custody.”
He was handed a three-year youth rehabilitation order and made subject to a criminal behaviour order for the same amount of time.