A Scottish “neo-Nazi” is facing prison for plotting to kill LGBT individuals. Police found an “armory” including fourteen knives and a crossbow at 54-year-old Alan Edward’s home in Stirlingshire, and prosecutors told a criminal court that he had a “neo-Nazi outlook.” Inside Edward’s home, officers uncovered a crossbow with telescopic sights, knuckledusters, machetes, a catapult, an extendable baton, a tomahawk, and a Samurai sword – some of which were emblazoned with Nazi and SS insignia.
Prosecutors said Edward discussed attacking gay people in WhatsApp groups, expressed extreme views about black people and Jews, and engaged in Holocaust denial. Paul Kearney, the prosecuting attorney, said Mr. Edward was “preparing for an act of terrorism which would include an ideologically driven incident of serious violence.”
Police surrounded Edward’s home in September 2022, broke down his door, and arrested him under terrorism legislation. Included in the evidential haul was a document praising Norwegian killer Anders Breivik, whom he referred to as “Saint Anders.”
In 2011, Anders Behring Breivik detonated a bomb near government buildings in downtown Oslo, killing eight people and injuring more than 200. Less than two hours later, Breivik arrived on the Norwegian island of Utoya, where the Norwegian Labor Party youth wing was on a camping trip. Dressed as a police officer, Breivik opened fire on the young people and killed 69. A further 32 were seriously injured. He was later diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, and evidence showed he held extreme and neo-Nazi beliefs.
Earlier this year, an Oslo court rejected Breivik’s claims that his prison conditions were “inhumane.” The killer had been held in isolation since his imprisonment began, and his lawyers told the court that their client did “not wish to be alive anymore.” The court rejected arguments that his isolation breached his human rights, saying he posed a significant threat and his communications with others must, therefore, be limited.
Back in Scotland, Alan Edward messaged a nearby associate and said LGBT people had been “pushing their luck for years,” and it was time for a violent backlash. “We should get masked up and go do a few of them in at their little gay club,” he wrote.
