A 19-year-old neo-Nazi obsessed teenager has been sentenced to more than 15 years in prison for attempting to behead a Kurdish barber with an axe in Bristol. Alina Burns attacked Mohammed Mahmoodi, 27, outside his shop in Bedminster in August last year, driven by a desire to 'kill all Jews and Muslims'.
Bristol Crown Court heard that Burns had been in contact with far-right groups and had expressed her extremist views on a dating app, telling a man to 'kill all Jews and Muslims'. She also searched online for information about jihad, the 2024 Southport stabbings, 'Jewish supremacy', and Nazi Germany.
Prosecutor Serena Gates KC stated that Burns had an extreme right-wing mindset, wanting Jews and Muslims killed and non-whites to flee or be expelled from the UK. The day before the attack, she watched videos of SS marches and sent an email titled 'The dawn of civil war'.
Burns admitted attempted murder and three charges of possessing an article with a blade or point, including an axe, a scalpel, and two darts. She denied a charge of engaging in conduct in preparation of terrorist acts, but the judge accepted the crown's argument that the attack had a terrorist motivation.
Sentencing Burns, Mrs Justice Lambert described her as a 'dangerous offender' deeply entrenched in her abnormal belief system. The judge noted Burns's communication with a man on a dating app expressing a desire to kill all Jews and Muslims in Britain, and her chats with the far-right group Patriotic Alternative. Burns received a custodial sentence of 15 and a half years, with an additional four-year licence period.
Defence counsel Andrew Langdon KC said Burns had a difficult childhood, with her family made homeless and living in temporary accommodation. Despite both parents being teachers, Burns stopped attending full-time education at 14.
