Alfie Coleman, a 22-year-old neo-Nazi from Great Notley in Essex, is facing jail after being found guilty of preparing for terrorist acts following an undercover MI5 operation in a Stratford car park. The Old Bailey retrial concluded with the conviction, and Coleman is scheduled to be sentenced by Judge Richard Marks KC on Wednesday.
Early radicalisation and planning
Coleman first accessed extreme right-wing material at age 14, downloading a neo-Nazi text onto his iPad. He later compiled a hate list targeting colleagues and customers, using racial slurs and labeling them as “race traitors.” He also wrote a “manifesto” in a diary and identified potential targets, including the Lord Mayor of London and a mosque.
In the summer of 2023, authorities became concerned as Coleman grew active on online extreme right-wing groups. In early September 2023, he arranged to purchase a Skorpion automatic weapon, an AK47 rifle, and bullets in France, targeting a local mosque. However, he quickly abandoned that plan.
The MI5 sting operation
MI5’s “highly sophisticated operation” culminated on September 29, 2023, in a Morrisons car park in Stratford, east London. Coleman, then 19, had arranged with an undercover officer to buy a Makarov pistol, five magazines, and 200 rounds of ammunition. Jurors saw video of Coleman dropping £3,500 in a Land Rover Discovery and picking up a holdall containing the handgun and ammunition from the boot. Before he had gone 30 yards, armed counter-terrorism police confronted him and forced him to the ground. He was carrying his Tesco employee card at the time.
Evidence of extremist ideology
A search of Coleman’s home, which he shared with his parents and sibling, revealed the extent of his murderous ideology. Police found £2,500 in savings, a device to detect bugs and secret cameras in his bedside drawer, a rock with a Swastika on a table, a Black Sun flag associated with neo-Nazism on the wall, and various extreme right-wing books. They also seized a collection of knives, a small stone axe, an air rifle, and a flyer about target shooting.
Analysis of his electronic devices showed that in July 2021, Coleman had emailed the far-right white supremacist organisation Patriotic Alternative, stating he “would like to start participating in activism.” He wrote plans for potential terrorist attacks, including hijacking a plane and targeting the home of the Lord Mayor of London, involving explosives in cash machines, knives, and crossbows.
Hate list and final preparations
Prosecutor Nicholas De La Poer KC said Coleman was “seething with hatred” when he created a list of people at work who had “upset” him in September 2022. Among them was a white female co-worker married to a man of mixed Indian and Seychellois heritage. Coleman said he was “captivated” by an extreme right-wing book commemorating public hangings of “white race traitors.”
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 planned pickup in Stratford, he wrote: “Just something has gotta be done, how long can we sit here and talk over the internet.” The same day, he ordered a Gerber Strong Arm knife with a 4.8-inch blade online.
Defence and guilty pleas
Giving evidence, Coleman described being lonely and suffering with mental health issues during Covid-19 lockdowns. He admitted attempting to possess a firearm and ammunition but denied preparing for a terrorist attack. He had pleaded guilty to possessing 10 documents with information likely to be useful to terrorists, including texts on weaponry and bomb-making instructions.
