UK
Neo-Nazi teenager who plotted to blow up Brighton synagogue jailed
Mason Reynolds was described as a ‘violent antisemite’ in court
June 17, 2024 17:15
Mason Reynolds was described as a ‘violent antisemite’ in court
June 17, 2024 17:15A far-right teenager who planned to attack a Brighton shul on a Jewish holiday has been handed an eight year prison sentence.
Mason Reynolds, 19, was labelled "dangerous" by a judge, who said he intended to promote terrorism online by sharing fascist propaganda.
Naomi Parsons, prosecuting, told Winchester Crown Court: “[Reynolds] does not find himself here because he has political, racial or ideological views that some may find distasteful or indeed abhorrent
"He is here because he has not just held those political, racial and ideological views, he has acted on them."
The teenager is a neo-Nazi who believed the white race was "destined to dominate the rest of mankind,” she claimed.
Reynolds, who was described in court as a “violent antisemite”, planned to undertake a suicide bombing at Holland Road shul.
The sixth-form student had annotated diagrams of the synagogue on his phone with one entrance identified that would be ‘‘good for surprise attack”.
He wrote that he wished to, "blow myself up inside a synagogue”.
Reynolds, who lived with his parents, also ran a channel on the encrypted messaging app Telegram in which users praised “Nazi heroes” and discussed previous far-right terror attacks.
After he was arrested in 2023 police discovered a “vast amount” of antisemitic material of antisemitic material on his phone and laptop.
He was a member of a Telegram channel that featured far right “propaganda” and designs for 3D printed guns, the court heard.
In the notes app on his phone, police found a plan to attack the Holland Road synagogue, which at the time was used by Brighton and Hove Hebrew Congregation before their move to a new location.
In his memo, Reynolds had designs of the synagogue featuring entrances, exits and a camera.
Text alongside read: "The Jewish holidays that tend to have the most people in synagogues are Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, and Passover.”
An annotation to his diagrams claimed: "Unknown place it leads to could blow the whole plan but could be good for surprise attack.”
Reynolds was also in possession of a video captioned, “burn your local synagogue, join your local Nazis” and an image he made, which was captioned: “Make Jews afraid again.”
Reynolds was jailed for eight years, with five on extended licence.
Amy Packham, mitigating, said: “He would never have taken this action into real life, this was all online, behind the barrier of the internet.”
Reynolds’ interest in far-right extremism developed during the Covid lockdown, she claimed.
Det Ch Supt Olly Wright, head of Counter Terrorism Policing South East, said: “This is another case involving a young person following a toxic extreme right-wing terrorist and antisemitic path.
“The fact Reynolds had such a detailed plan to attack a synagogue is really concerning.
"However, as a result of our investigation, Reynolds was prevented from progressing the plan into action.”