Teen tried to buy gun for terrorist attack, court told

A neo-Nazi was stung by MI5 in a Morrisons' car park while trying to buy a gun for a terrorist attack, a court has heard.

The Old Bailey in London heard how supermarket worker Alfie Coleman, 21, from Great Notley, Essex, had spent the previous months messaging people who he thought were fellow extremists in 2023.

In fact they were MI5 operatives who arranged to sell him a pistol and ammunition, and the court heard how he was arrested by counter-terrorism police after picking up the weapon.

Prosecutor Nicholas De La Poer KC said at the time of his arrest Coleman, who denies a charge of preparing terrorist acts, was a far-right "militant accelerationist" who believed in fighting a race war.

The jury heard how from the age of 17, Coleman had immersed himself "in an extreme-right wing world while looking to arm himself with weapons openly advertised on the internet, such as knives".

Four knives were recovered from his bedroom following his arrest, it was alleged.

He was also said to have downloaded various documents to his phone including a version of The Anarchists Cookbook, a manual that includes instructions for making improvised explosive devices.

Coleman, who was wearing a white shirt and a grey sweater wrapped around his shoulders, remained impassive in the dock as the court heard how he also had a copy of a "manifesto" written by Dylann Roof.

The jury heard how Roof had written this "overtly racist" document before mounting a murderous attack at a church in South Carolina in 2015, killing nine people.

The jury were also told that Coleman had already pleaded guilty to downloading another illegal manual which explains how to make a submachine gun.

The prosecutor went on to claim that in July 2021, Coleman emailed a far-right supremacist organisation called Patriotic Alternative.

It was said that he introduced himself as "a 17-year-old proud white European" who "would like to start participating in activism".

It was also alleged that before he turned 18, Coleman wrote a plan for a potential terrorist attack in the notes application of his mobile phone.

The court heard the note was entitled "Collapse", which began by identifying his target "Mayor of London House", included the postcode for the lord mayor's residence, Mansion House, and set out a recipe for an explosive.

The jury also heard claims from the prosecutor that however the Tesco employee appeared at work, "Mr Coleman was seething with hatred on the inside".

He created a list of "race traitors", which included a colleague who was married to a man of mixed Indian and Seychelloise heritage.

De La Poer said the prosecution's case was that Coleman believed in a far-right racist ideology and was planning to carry out terrorist acts, using the gun he tried to buy from the security services.

The trial continues.

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