Hampshire boy, 15, found not guilty of preparing terrorist acts in UK
A TEENAGE boy from Hampshire who was the youngest person to be tried for preparing terrorist acts on UK soil has been found not guilty.
The 15-year-old, who was 14 at the time of the alleged offence, sobbed with relief as a jury dismissed accusations that he had been ‘mesmerised by martyrdom’.
Prosecutors claimed the schoolboy from Eastleigh had attempted to make rudimentary bombs during the coronavirus lockdown and that he had developed extreme views influenced by so-called Islamic State.
But a jury at Leicester Crown Court rejected the allegations today after deliberating for nine hours and 10 minutes following a two-week trial.
Counter Terrorism Policing South East believed the teenager was the youngest person to be charged with preparing terrorist acts on UK soil.
Jurors accepted the boy’s defence, in which he had said he believed the views of groups such as IS were ‘nasty stuff’ and ‘evil’.
During his trial, the teenager said he had used phrases meaning ‘non-believers’ in home-made videos because he had heard the words in the film Four Lions.
In his evidence, the boy also denied having any plans to kill himself or anybody else.
While he was in the witness box, his defence barrister, Mary Prior QC, had asked: ‘How do you feel about it now?’
The boy replied: ‘Upset … because it is nasty stuff. I don’t like watching it because it is evil. I don’t mean what I said.’
Referring to words said in a home-made videos about martyrdom, Ms Prior asked him: ‘Did you plan to kill yourself?’
‘No,’ he replied.
Ms Prior continued: ‘Did you plan to kill somebody else?’
He replied firmly: ‘No, I did not.’