Left-Wing Anarchist Jailed For 13 Years Over Terror Offences

[The_DADDY 3,480]

Jacob Graham: Left-wing anarchist jailed for 13 years over terror offences after declaring he wanted to kill at least 50 people

The security services uncovered Jacob Graham's activity as part of an investigation into the purchase of chemicals online, it can be disclosed.

A left-wing anarchist has been jailed for 13 years for preparing acts of terrorism by compiling and sharing a bomb-making manual, after declaring he wanted to kill at least 50 people.

Jacob Graham, 20, from Norris Green, Liverpool, dedicated his manual, called the "Freedom Encyclopaedia", to "misfits, social nobodies, anarchists, [and] terrorists past and future, who want to fight for freedom against the government".

The judge said the college student was a "dangerous young man", adding that Graham described himself "as the first UK home-grown terrorist".

The security services uncovered Graham's activity as part of an investigation into the purchase of chemicals online, it can be disclosed.

When they raided the home he shared with his mother and sister, they discovered he had filmed bomb-making experiments in his back garden and buried supplies in a secret woodland hide in Formby, Merseyside.

In a document called "My Plan", Graham wrote he wanted to kill at least 50 people by attacking government buildings and politicians' houses

 

Your thoughts?

 

https://news.sky.com/story/jacob-graham-left-wing-anarchist-jailed-for-13-years-over-terror-offences-after-declaring-he-wanted-to-kill-at-least-50-people-13097584

[Axe 836]

My thoughts are he most likely is just a fantasist rather than a potential terrorist.  However, others could have  been motivated to commit terrorist acts as a consequence of his actions.  

[crookesey 636]

15 minutes ago, Axe said:

My thoughts are he most likely is just a fantasist rather than a potential terrorist.  However, others could have  been motivated to commit terrorist acts as a consequence of his actions.  

I agree, he sounds a real Cadburys Fruit & Nut case, he obviously requires some attention, which I’m sure he will receive. 

[crookesey 636]

‘

[Al Bundy 1,577]

I didn't think folk from Liverpool wanted to be English?

 

Wish they would make their minds up.

[horribleblob 214]

4 minutes ago, Al Bundy said:

I didn't think folk from Liverpool wanted to be English?

 

Wish they would make their minds up.

"they"? Isn't this story about just one twenty-year-old bloke, not the entire population of Liverpool?

[Draggletail 61]

Seems to me that he's very obsessed with the whole idea, quite naive and a bit of a fantasist. Sharing his bomb making manual online is obviously not on and potentially dangerous. I'm not sure he'd be a real threat in real life by personally carrying out an attack.

[spilldig 190]

3 hours ago, The_DADDY said:

Jacob Graham: Left-wing anarchist jailed for 13 years over terror offences after declaring he wanted to kill at least 50 people

The security services uncovered Jacob Graham's activity as part of an investigation into the purchase of chemicals online, it can be disclosed.

A left-wing anarchist has been jailed for 13 years for preparing acts of terrorism by compiling and sharing a bomb-making manual, after declaring he wanted to kill at least 50 people.

Jacob Graham, 20, from Norris Green, Liverpool, dedicated his manual, called the "Freedom Encyclopaedia", to "misfits, social nobodies, anarchists, [and] terrorists past and future, who want to fight for freedom against the government".

The judge said the college student was a "dangerous young man", adding that Graham described himself "as the first UK home-grown terrorist".

The security services uncovered Graham's activity as part of an investigation into the purchase of chemicals online, it can be disclosed.

When they raided the home he shared with his mother and sister, they discovered he had filmed bomb-making experiments in his back garden and buried supplies in a secret woodland hide in Formby, Merseyside.

In a document called "My Plan", Graham wrote he wanted to kill at least 50 people by attacking government buildings and politicians' houses

 

Your thoughts?

 

https://news.sky.com/story/jacob-graham-left-wing-anarchist-jailed-for-13-years-over-terror-offences-after-declaring-he-wanted-to-kill-at-least-50-people-13097584

Your thoughts?

[El Cid 221]

Why 13 years and not 10 or 15?

 

I dont like locking people away, when it costs loads on money and when they come out they will most likely do it again.

 

Why not just lock him up for a minimum of 5 years, but only let him out if he can convince a jury he will be a good boy?

 

In order to be a good boy, he will need to prove he will get a job, so he needs to study.

[Draggletail 61]

3 minutes ago, El Cid said:

 

 

In order to be a good boy, he will need to prove he will get a job, so he needs to study.

He was a computer science student...  

[Jim Hardie 534]

Far left terrorist? That’s a bit of a novelty except that anarchists are supposed to be neither left nor right.

[peak4 288]

2 hours ago, Draggletail said:

Seems to me that he's very obsessed with the whole idea, quite naive and a bit of a fantasist. Sharing his bomb making manual online is obviously not on and potentially dangerous. I'm not sure he'd be a real threat in real life by personally carrying out an attack.

You're probably correct about him not being a direct threat, yet, but he could easily inspire others who are even more deranged into real acts of violence; look at Thomas Mair for instance, who consumed all manner of dangerous propaganda before he killed.

Naïve and fantasist clearly but also confused in his own thought process, since he described himself as "left-wing" but "more like an anarchist"; the self styling seems to be about the only reference I've seen to left wing terrorism in the various accounts of his actions. I haven't looked that far to be fair, but I didn't see Left Wing as a description by official bodies.

The Liverpool Echo does claim he idolised  Theodore Kaczynski the "Unabomber", so if he claims to be left wing, he doesn't even seem to understand what drove Kaczynski, if indeed anybody does.

This quote is from Wiki, but seems to be correct, and is part of his claimed manifesto

He [Kaczynski]  defined leftists as "mainly socialists, collectivists, 'politically correct' types, feminists, gay and disability activists, animal rights activists and the like".

He believed that over-socialization and feelings of inferiority are primary drivers of leftism, and derided it as "one of the most widespread manifestations of the craziness of our world".

Kaczynski added that the type of movement he envisioned must be anti-leftist and refrain from collaboration with leftists as, in his view, "leftism is in the long run inconsistent with wild nature, with human freedom and with the elimination of modern technology".

 

For El Cid, regarding the sentence length, there is some explanation in the judges sentencing notes, available here as a pdf.  only 7 pages and easy to read.
As a general comment about the supposed "Left Wing" aspect of his terrorism, the term doesn't come up in the court sentencing report at all, thought it may appear in a full transcript.

 

Yes the guy certainly needs jailing, for the protection of the general public, but he also needs some sort of help and a full assessment before he's released.
The whole aspect of on-line radicalisation really does need more open discussion, whether it be left/right, religious or any other reason/excuse, as does the real danger of radicalisation from within our penal system.
The  way HMG seeks to run the Prevent program is a bit concerning too, but that's maybe better discussed elsewhere.