Former Drama Student's Descent into Extremism
A 26-year-old former Brit School actor who became deeply immersed in far-right extremism, sexual violence ideologies and mass killing manifestos has been sentenced to 23 months imprisonment for terrorism offences. Declan Candiani, who studied theatre at the prestigious performing arts school in Croydon, told police he had made a 'pact with the devil' during his descent into disturbing belief systems.
The Unravelling at Stansted Airport
Candiani's activities came to light when he was stopped at Stansted airport on August 13 last year while attempting to travel to Finland for a holiday with his girlfriend. Officers from the Counter-Terrorism Border Policing Unit examined his mobile phone and discovered numerous documents advocating violent extremism, leading to a subsequent search of his family home in Streatham, South London.
The investigation revealed Candiani had been working at the Clapham Omnibus Theatre, serving coffee and providing night-time security, while also working part-time as a dog walker. However, his personal life told a very different story from his mundane employment.
A Digital Library of Horror
Authorities found Candiani's iPad contained an extensive collection of extremist material, including manifestos from notorious far-right mass murderers. Among the documents was the Great Replacement manifesto of Brenton Tarrant, who killed 51 people in Christchurch mosque attacks, and Anders Breivik's 'A European Declaration of Independence', associated with the Norway attacks that claimed 77 lives.
He also possessed the manifesto of Payton Gendron, who livestreamed his racist mass shooting at a Buffalo supermarket, along with Hitler's Mein Kampf and the 'Hater's Handbook' by Michail Chkhikvishvili, leader of the Maniac Murder Cult. This document included sections on school shootings, rape, murder and 'weapons of accelerationism'.
Other disturbing finds included a manual titled 'DIY Sheet Metal Self-loading Pistol' showing how to build a firearm, and material from the banned neo-Nazi organisation Atomwaffen Division, which advocates violence to establish a white 'ethno-state'.
Symbols of Allegiance
When interviewed by police, Candiani wore a t-shirt bearing the logo of Combat 84, a 1980s far-right punk band, and had a tattoo of pool balls displaying the number 88 - a coded reference to 'Heil Hitler'. His username on the Telegram app was 'Ian Stuart 88', named after the lead singer of neo-Nazi band Skrewdriver.
In his bedroom, investigators found the flag of the Dirlewanger Brigade, a brutal SS stormtrooper unit recruited from prisons. On a box in his room, he had written 'kill, kill, kill'.
The Satanic Pact and Active Club Application
Candiani told officers that three years earlier he had discovered The Order of the Nine Angles (ONA), a far-right group following 'traditional satanism' whose texts advocate ritual killing, mass murder and paedophilia to collapse western civilisation.
He described developing an 'unhealthy obsession' with their satanic aspects and claimed he started 'hearing the voice of the devil or some kind of demon inside me'. Candiani stated: 'During that time I made a pact with the devil and I signed it and I told him that I'd be like a minion, a soldier.'
Despite his denials of far-right sympathies, police discovered he had applied to join Active Club, a right-wing extremist fitness group, on August 7 last year, telling them: 'I want to join because I'm fed up with being inactive and want to do something to help my race and nation.'
Court Proceedings and Sentencing
At the Old Bailey, Judge Nigel Lickley KC described Candiani as 'deeply immersed in truly horrifying belief systems' and noted his access to extremist material was 'deliberate and part of an interest in mass killing, death and the extreme right-wing'.
Candiani was convicted of possessing two documents useful for terrorism and acquitted of two further counts. Commander Dominic Murphy, head of Scotland Yard's Counter-Terrorism Command, stated analysis of his digital devices revealed 'some of the most horrific material promoted by extreme right-wing terrorist groups'.
In his defence, Candiani claimed he had been interested in true crime and serial killers but denied obsession with extreme violence. He described taking drugs including cannabis, cocaine, ecstasy, ketamine and LSD, and said his mother's cancer diagnosis had sent him down a 'rabbit hole' of anger and hatred.
His defence lawyer Alex Jamieson told the court Candiani had undergone counselling, rejected satanism and now identified as a pagan believing in Norse gods. The former actor wrote to the judge expressing his desire to 'repay the support his mother has given him over the years'.
