Teen becomes first person to face terror charges because of his 'hatred for humanity'

A teenager found with an axe and a stash of knives in a duffle bag has been charged with preparing a terrorist attack in the first case said to be motivated by 'misanthropy', a hatred of humanity.

It comes amid concerns that young people preparing mass casualty attacks are escaping with relatively minor charges because they are not considered to have an ideology.

Terrorist attacks are defined as the use or threat of serious violence for the purpose of advancing a political, religious, racial or ideological cause.

This month the inquiry into the Southport attack was told about an increasing number of 'violence-fixated' young men driven by 'a mash-up of resentment, rage, and normalised violence'.  

The latest case involves a 16-year-old from Nottingham, who is originally from Poland, and cannot be named due to his age.

The Old Bailey heard last week that the police received a report on September 10 of a person who had provided an online link to a number of terrorist documents.

In one of the documents he is said to have made clear how much he hated the British people, referred to his hatred of society and made reference to having joined a true crime community, known as a 'com network'.

In a second document, he said that he was 'unlike other mass murders who discriminate against race, skin, colour or gender identity'.

'Each and every one of you piece of s*** humans are disgusting to me,' he allegedly wrote. 

'If it is not clear already I am doing this mainly due to suicidal ideation and misanthropy.'

Julia Faure-Walker told a hearing that the prosecution alleges that misanthropy – the hatred of humankind – 'is the ideological cause for the terrorist acts'.

It means that the CPS has been able to charge the teenager with preparation of terrorist acts, which carries a potential life sentence.

The teenager allegedly set out his plan in the second document.

He said he had done a lot of research and referred to 'gear' he needed including a hatchet, a 7-8in kitchen knife, a throwing knife and other bladed weapons, along with pepper spray.

He said he would wear black leather jacket with writing on it and added: 'After killing a few, I will attempt to hijack someone's car and then drive to a bus station and run over a few more.

'If humanity is the reason I am not able to live how I want, I might as well make them hurt as much as I do.'

Referring to an armed police response, he added: 'I am not going to deny it, I have had thoughts of being able to overpower them and take one of their guns.'

The boy was identified and arrested the next day by officers from Counter-Terrorism Policing East Midlands.

His home address was searched and a duffle bag of weapons found which included knives, a small axe and swords, as well as boots he said he would be wearing during the attack, the court heard.

The boy appeared by video link at the Old Bailey wearing a beige jacket and with his black hair combed in front of his face.

He spoke only to confirm his name and date of birth and is due to face trial in April 2027.

Axel Rudakubana was 17 when he launched the deadly knife attack on Bebe King, six, Elsie Stancombe, seven, and Alice Aguiar, nine, at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class on July 29, 2024. 

His actions were not deemed to be an act of terror due to his lack of a known political or religious ideology.

Although he was convicted of producing the biological toxin ricin and possessing an al-Qaida training manual, an offence under the Terrorism Act. 

Rudakubana – who had become obsessed with 'very disturbing imagery' including torture, female slavery and the bodies of the dead in global conflicts – was later jailed for life.

Since the attack, three teenagers have been arrested after planning 'copycat' cases which echo many of the factors identified in the Southport attack, but each was charged only with minor offences.

Shenaz Muzaffer, a deputy chief crown prosecutor, spoke this month about 'violence-fixated' young men who have acquired weapons where the CPS 'has not always been able to charge offences which fully reflect the intention of the suspect'.

It is more than a year since Jonathan Hall KC, the independent reviewer of terrorism legislation, recommended a new offence of preparing a mass killing without an ideology.

But Lord Anderson, who produced a government report on the Prevent de-radicalisation programme, has said that school attacks, misogyny and nihilism could all be considered as ideologies.