Britain’s youngest convicted terrorist avoids custody

The defendant was sentenced at the Old Bailey (Nick Ansell/PA)

Britain’s youngest convicted terrorist, who led a neo-Nazi cell from his grandmother’s house, has avoided custody.

The boy was aged just 13 when he got his hands on instructions for explosives.

At the age of 14, the youth, from south-east Cornwall, amassed a stash of terror material and shared far-right extremist ideology in online chatrooms.

He pleaded guilty to 12 offences – two of dissemination of terrorist documents and 10 of possession of terrorist material.

The defendant, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, was handed a 24-month youth rehabilitation order by Judge Mark Dennis QC at the Old Bailey on Monday.

The judge told the boy he had “entered an online world of wicked prejudice” and any reoffending would lead to a “spiral of ever lengthening terms of incarceration” to protect the public.

The judge added: “The wider picture revealed in this case – the actions, words and mindset of teenagers – is deeply concerning.”