Alfie Coleman, a young neo-Nazi who plotted a mass gun attack, has been sentenced to 13 and a half years in prison following an undercover MI5 operation. The 22-year-old from Great Notley, Essex, was convicted of preparing for terrorist acts after a retrial at the Old Bailey.
Radicalisation and Planning
Coleman was just 14 when he began downloading extreme right-wing material, including a neo-Nazi text onto his iPad. Over time, he compiled a hate list of colleagues and customers at his part-time Tesco job, branding them with racial slurs or as “race traitors.” He also penned a manifesto identifying potential targets such as the Lord Mayor of London and a mosque.
Prosecutor Nicholas De La Poer KC said Coleman was “seething with hatred” when he created the list in September 2022. Among those singled out was a white female co-worker married to a man of mixed Indian and Seychellois heritage.
The MI5 Sting
Authorities became concerned in summer 2023 when Coleman grew active on extreme right-wing online groups. Undercover MI5 officers engaged him in encrypted chats as he sought to buy weapons. On September 29, 2023, Coleman met an undercover officer in a Morrisons car park in Stratford, east London, to purchase a Makarov pistol, five magazines, and 200 rounds of ammunition for £3,500.
Jurors saw dramatic video of Coleman dropping the cash into a Land Rover Discovery and picking up a holdall containing the handgun and ammunition. Before he had gone 30 yards, armed counter-terrorism police confronted him and forced him to the ground. He was still carrying his Tesco employee card.
Evidence of Extremism
A search of Coleman’s home revealed the extent of his ideology. Police found a rock with a Swastika, a Black Sun flag associated with neo-Nazism, and various extreme right-wing books. In his bedside drawer, they discovered £2,500 in savings, a bug-detection device, and a collection of knives. Officers also seized a small stone axe, an air rifle, and a flyer about target shooting.
An analysis of his electronic devices showed that in July 2021, Coleman had emailed the far-right white supremacist organisation Patriotic Alternative, saying he “would like to start participating in activism.” He wrote plans for potential terrorist attacks, including hijacking a plane, targeting the Lord Mayor’s home, and using explosives in a cash machine, as well as knives and crossbows.
Six days before his arrest, Coleman posted a picture of a man armed with an automatic gun and wearing a balaclava, commenting: “Coming soon here my man.” Two days before the weapon purchase, he wrote: “Just something has gotta be done, how long can we sit here and talk over the internet.” That same day, he ordered a Gerber Strong Arm knife with a 4.8-inch blade online.
Sentencing and Mitigation
Judge Richard Marks KC described Coleman as a “dangerous offender” with “virulently racist” views. However, he spared him a life sentence, citing “your age, immaturity, autistic spectrum disorder traits, anxiety, vulnerability, lack of previous convictions and the absence of actual physical harm caused by you.” Coleman was sentenced to 13.5 years with an additional five years on extended licence.
Mitigating, Martin Rutherford KC said: “Alfie Coleman is not a young man without potential. Intelligent, articulate and polite, all of those things apply to him – but the reality is his obsessive personality took a horribly wrong turn back in 2020.”
Coleman had admitted attempting to possess a firearm and ammunition but denied preparing for a terrorist attack. He also pleaded guilty to possessing 10 documents with information useful to terrorists, including texts on weaponry and bomb-making.
Police and MI5 Response
Commander Helen Flanagan, head of Counter Terrorism Policing London, said: “It is extremely concerning that such a young person was planning to murder innocent members of the public as part of an extreme right-wing terrorist plot. But thankfully Counter Terrorism Policing, working with our colleagues in MI5, were able to intervene and arrest him before he was able to harm anyone.”
She added: “What is particularly concerning is that Coleman was radicalised online from when he was just 14-years-old, and sadly we’re seeing more and more examples of young people and children being drawn into violent extremism and terrorism this way.”
Coleman will serve two-thirds of his sentence, less the more than 1,000 days already spent in custody, before being eligible for parole. He is also subject to a part 4 notification order for 30 years, requiring him to share personal information with the police.
