A teenage terror fanatic who planned to disguise himself as an armed police officer and kill muslims worshipping at a mosque in a Brenton Tarrant copycat attack has been jailed.
Joe Metcalfe, now 17, ‘idolised convicted international terrorists‘ and stole his dad’s car to go on a scouting trip on a mosque in Keighley, West Yorks.
He then crashed the car into a fence, which led to his arrest.
How police discovered his methods
Police discovered he’d researched how to carry out the attack in imitation of the mass shootings in Christchurch New Zealand in 2019 and Buffalo in 2022.
He jailed Friday for 10 years by a judge at Leeds Crown Court after being found guilty after trial of preparing to commit an act of terrorism.
He pleads guilty
He’d previously pleaded guilty to encouraging others to commit terrorism, disseminating terrorist publications, and possessing a bladed article.
His jailed term will also come with an extended licence period of six years.
How he was caught in his methods
Counter terror cops swooped on Metcalfe, of Haworth, West Yorks., in June 2022 when he was just 15.
Prosecutors said the boy held extreme right-wing views and had shown support for international terrorists such as Tarrant, who filmed himself as he shot 51 people in two mosques in New Zealand in 2019.
Jurors were shown a pictogram drawn by the boy in a notebook manifesto which shows a stickman surrounded by a swastika and an SS symbol.
It also included the names of some of the most notorious killers of recent years.
Police said he had a settled plan to conduct his own extreme right-wing-inspired attack in the summer of 2022.
After he was found guilty, Counter Terrorism Policing North East released images of a knife and a screwdriver found at the boy’s address.
Metcalfe was also sentenced Friday after a separate trial for charges of multiple rape, and coercive/controlling behaviour against a teenage girl.
