A British neo-Nazi who tried to buy a pistol and ammunition from undercover officers for a planned terrorist attack has been jailed for 13 years and six months, police have said.
Alfie Coleman, 22, was convicted in April of preparing acts of terrorism after a jury at the Old Bailey found he had planned an attack motivated by extreme right-wing ideology and admiration for Adolf Hitler.
He was arrested in September 2023 after handing over £3,500 in an east London car park for what he believed was a pistol and 200 rounds of ammunition.
The weapons transaction was part of an undercover operation involving counter-terrorism police and the domestic intelligence agency MI5.
Prosecutors told the court that Coleman also idolised Thomas Mair, who murdered Labour MP Jo Cox in 2016. They said he kept a manifesto-style diary in which he wrote: All people whom are not on our side must die.
The Metropolitan Police said Coleman had been radicalised online from the age of 14 through extreme right-wing forums and groups. Officers found extremist material, along with manuals relating to weapons and explosives, on his electronic devices.
As well as preparing acts of terrorism, Coleman was found guilty of attempted possession of a firearm and 10 counts of collecting information likely to be useful to terrorists.
At Wednesday’s sentencing hearing, the court also imposed an extended five-year licence period to apply after his release from prison. Photo by André Gustavo Stumpf from Brasil, Wikimedia commons.
