Counter Terrorism Policing North EastThree Nazi-worshipping extremists convicted of terror offences have been jailed.
Christopher Ringrose, 34, Marco Pitzettu, 25, and Brogan Stewart, 25, were found guilty in May of planning terrorist attacks on mosques and synagogues.
Stewart, from West Yorkshire, was jailed for 11 years, Ringrose, from Staffordshire, was jailed for 10 years, and Pitzettu, from Derbyshire, will serve eight years.
Sentencing them at Sheffield Crown Court on Friday, Mrs Justice Cutts said she believed they all continued to adhere to their extreme right-wing ideology.
The judge outlined how the online group the trio belonged to was preparing for an attack on an Islamic education centre in Leeds before they were arrested by counter-terror police.
During their trial it emerged the men, who are not believed to have met in the real world before appearing in court, were preparing to use more than 200 weapons they had amassed, including machetes, swords, crossbows and an illegal stun gun.
Ringrose had also 3D-printed most of the components of a semi-automatic firearm.
Prosecutor Jonathan Sandiford KC said the three defendants were “followers of an extreme right-wing Nazi ideology” and styled themselves as an armed military group.
Counter Terrorism Policing North EastMr Sandiford said by 2024 they were seeking further recruits and hoping to acquire more deadly weapons.
He said by January and February they were planning their first attack and had identified a target in Leeds, harbouring an “intention to commit acts of extremism which involved killing multiple victims”.
The three men were arrested when security services believed an attack was imminent after undercover officers infiltrated their online group.
A jury had rejected arguments the defendants were fantasists with no intention of carrying out their threats and found all three guilty 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.
‘Vile views’
Counter-terror police said the self-styled “militant” online group provided an “echo chamber of extreme right-wing views where they shared horrific racial slurs, glorified mass murderers and encouraged violence against anyone deemed an enemy”.
Head of Counter Terrorism Policing North East Det Ch Supt James Dunkerley said they were a group who “espoused vile racist views and advocated for violence, all to support their extreme right-wing mindset”.
“Some of their defence in court was that it was all fantasy or just part of harmless chat, however all three took real-world steps to plan and prepare for carrying out an attack on innocent citizens.”
He said it had been a complex case involving multiple police forces.
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