Two neo-Nazis, aged 65 and 60, guilty of terrorism and other offences at different trials this week, with one jailed for over seven years as the other awaits sentencing on June 5, show the ongoing propaganda influence of the Christchurch terrorist.
Both possessed copies of the Christchurch terrorist’s screed.
Alan Madden, 65, from Wirral, was sentenced at Liverpool Crown Court on May 30, following two earlier guilty pleas, and was jailed for over seven years for terrorism and firearms offences.
Sixty-year-old Darren Reynolds, from Sheffield, a racist survivalist, worked alongside Christine Grayson, 59, in plotting the destruction of 5G phone towers as he called for the murder of MPs, making him guilty of encouraging terrorism. Both were found guilty of various offences at Leeds Crown Court, with Reynolds guilty of various terrorism offences.
Both neo-Nazis used Telegram and Bitchute to further their racist agendas and call for violence towards Jewish communities whilst propagating antisemitic conspiracies.
Our investigation found that Bitchute had removed Alan Madden’s account for breach of its community guidelines, but caches reveal the enduring overlap between racist conspiracies about Jewish communities historically and in contemporary forms, including around the origins of the coronavirus. Other antisemitic videos included Holocaust denial alongside comments from Madden wishing for the genocide of Jewish communities.
On Telegram, Reynolds praised the neo-Nazi terrorist who murdered the Labour MP Jo Cox and called the late Sir David Amess a “traitor” a day after a terrorist murdered them, Sky News reported. At Leeds Crown Court, the prosecution outlined how, on June 29, 2021, Reynolds posted to his Telegram group: “Storm parliament and the Lords, drag them all outside and hang them all on the spot for treason, sedition insurgency, attempted genocide and crimes against the peoples of Great Britain.” An admin on various other Telegram channels, he used the platform to distribute neo-Nazi propaganda and terrorist literature.
Alan Madden pleaded guilty to a TACT 2006 offence, contrary to Section 2 of the Terrorism Act 2000, which concerns the dissemination of terrorist publications, as the Liverpool Echo revealed his praise for the proscribed neo-Nazi terror group National Action and re-posting their illegal, racist propaganda on BitChute. During the trial, officers unearthed various neo-Nazi propaganda in digital forms and physical copies – including a copy of the Christchurch terrorist’s screed.
Other guilty pleas from Madden included three counts of inciting racial hatred – a section 201 offence under the Public Order Act, and for possession of weapons that included possession of a firearm, 384 rounds, 9mm hollow point and 9mm Kurz ammunition. Other offensive weapons they possessed included nun chucks and a flick knife.
Darren Reynolds also had a keen interest in weapons – expressing his hopes of converting his M16 and an AK-47 replica assault rifles into viable weapons, as he ordered a self-loading crossbow online (delivered to a neighbour).
The respective ages of Alan Madden and Darren Reynolds mean they are the oldest individuals guilty of far-right terror offences where the terrorism in Christchurch appeared in their digital collections or provided inspiration so far. Others were teenagers in their mid-to-late twenties or thirties (or older in rarer cases).
Those other names include Harry Vaughan (18), Mason Yates (19), Morgan Seales (20), Vincent Fuller (50), Matthew Cronjager (18), Benjamin Hannam (22), Gabriele Longo (26), Dean Morrice (34), Paul Dunleavy (17), Thomas Leech (19), Filip Bednarczyk (26), Luke Hunter (23), Sam Imrie (24), Samuel Whibley (29), Michael Nugent (38), Robert Gregory (24), Nicholas Brock (53), Elliot Brown (25), an unnamed 16-year-old from West Yorkshire, Mark Wolf (a 37-year-old British national and paedophile jailed in Ireland), Vaughn Dolphin (20) and 19-year-old Luke Skelton.
Endnote: We welcome the jailing of the dangerous neo-Nazi terrorist Alan Madden, who posed a real threat to Jewish communities, and it remains alarming that we continue to see how the Christchurch terrorist and their screed hold sway or continue to influence those wishing to murder Muslims and violently harm other minority communities in our country. We hope the sentence of Darren Reynolds reflects the severity of his aims and calls for terrorism towards MPs.