Daniel Harris: British teenage extremist whose videos were linked to two mass murders in US jailed
A British teenage extremist has been jailed after his far-right videos were linked to two mass murders in the US.
Daniel Harris used an online platform called World Truth Videos to disseminate a “call to arms” for his violent racist beliefs, a court heard.
The 19-year-old from Glossop in Derbyshire was convicted of five counts of encouraging terrorism and one of possessing a 3D printer for the purposes of terrorism after a trial at Manchester Crown Court.
He was sentenced to 11-and-a-half years in jail, and a further 3 years on licence.
Prosecutors said US mass killer Payton Gendron was “encouraged and, in part, motivated to do what he did” by Harris.
Gendron murdered 10 black people in a mass shooting in Buffalo, New York, in May 2022 while livestreaming the attack. Within hours, Harris produced a video celebrating the killing spree.
Gendron, 19, had left a comment on one of Harris’s videos two months before the mass shooting, saying: “You are not alone my friend :)”.
Payton Gendron murdered 10 people in a mass shooting in New York
The video included lessons to be learned from Brenton Tarrant, who livestreamed an attack in which he killed 51 people at mosques in New Zealand in March 2019.
Gendron had also taken an image from another of Harris’s videos and used it as the main image on his “manifesto”.
Prosecutor Joe Allman said Gendron was “inspired” by Harris’s material.
The British teenager also influenced Anderson Lee Aldrich, the only suspect in a shooting at a gay bar in Colorado, the court was told.
Anderson Lee Aldrich is accused of killing five people in a shooting in Colorado
Aldrich, 22, allegedly killed five people during an indiscriminate firearms attack in Colorado Springs, in November last year – while Harris was on trial in the UK.
Aldrich – who is yet to enter pleas over the Colorado shooting – “accessed material” produced by Harris, Mr Allman said.
The prosecutor told the court one of Harris’s videos was posted on the “brother site” to a website with links to what appeared to be a livestream of Aldrich preparing to carry out the attacks.
Mr Allman said: “The Crown say it demonstrates that individuals of the greatest concern have accessed the material produced by Mr Harris.”
The scene after the Buffalo shooting. Pic: AP
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Harris was described in court as an “influential online propagandist for a violent and deeply racist ideology”.
His videos glorified mass killings and were “tantamount to a call to arms to those who shared, or who could be persuaded to share Mr Harris’s world view,” Mr Allman said.
Under the pseudonym “BookAnon”, Harris’s videos “encouraged and gave instructions for carrying out acts of terror against those deemed not to be part of the white European race,” the court heard.
One video showed how to make an assault rifle using a 3D printer and when police raided Harris’s grandfather’s house, they found that he had begun making the parts himself.
3D printed gun parts that Harris created
‘Toxic rhetoric with untold influence’
After the teenager’s conviction, Detective Inspector Chris Brett said attempts were initially made to engage with Harris through the Prevent programme, which aims to stop people becoming terrorists.
“It soon became clear he was pretending to be deradicalised whilst encouraging terrorism online,” Mr Brett added.
“The threat he caused meant we had to act in order to ensure the safety of the wider public.”
Mr Brett said Harris “clearly demonstrated a disdain for law enforcement and public order, as well as an admiration for those who had committed atrocities in terrorist attacks overseas”.
“By posting these videos online, Harris’ toxic rhetoric could have had untold influence on countless people across the world – such actions will not be tolerated,” the senior officer said.
He added that officers made “the rather chilling discovery of attempts to make component parts of a firearm printed from his 3D printer” during a search, which “showed a clear intent to create a deadly weapon”.
Ipswich Town fans celebrated their “long-awaited” return to the Premier League after they secured promotion over weekend.
On Saturday, Kieran McKenna’s Tractor Boys clinched their place in the top flight with a 2-0 win over now-relegated Huddersfield Town.
The result meant Ipswich will return to the Premier League for the first time since 2002.
Saturday’s victory secured the Suffolk club back-to-back promotions as they became the first team since Southampton in 2011 and 2012 to win successive promotions to the top flight from League One.
On Monday the team rode through Ipswich on an open-top bus, with thousands of fans turning out to celebrate.
Speaking to Sky News, fans described feelings of euphoria amid the celebrations, as others were enjoying a long weekend of non-stop celebrating.
“It’s been a really really long time coming,” one fan said.
Ipswich Town players during an open-top bus parade to celebrate promotion to the Premier League.
Young Ipswich Town fans climbed into trees for the best vantage point of the open-top bus parade. Pic: PA
Ipswich Town’s Massimo Luongo lifts the promotion trophy during an open-top bus parade. Pic PA
Pic: PA
Paul Smith (right) and son Arthur are on their second day of celebrating
Paul Smith, who like many was on his second day of celebrating, said: “I’ve been lucky enough to live through an era of seeing the great times at Ipswich, but I dragged him [his son] along for many many years and I’m grateful his generation gets to see some great times as well.
“When you realise the teams we’re going to be playing it’s incredible.”
Paul’s son Arthur said it was “euphoric” seeing his side promoted but admitted to feeling quite “jaded” from the celebrations.
It was also quite an emotional moment for some who shared a bond with the club with family members.
Pic: PA
Ipswich Town fans turned out in huge numbers to celebrate. Pic: PA
Pic PA
Pic: PA
Adam Conuel, another fan, described the promotion in one word: “Unbelievable”.
He added: “My grandad passed away last year, we were quite close, he was a supporter all his life too, like my dad.”
He described the celebrations as “emotional” and said “look how many people are here, it’s crazy, I never thought in my lifetime… every conversation I’ve had with my grandpa used to be ‘we were rubbish weren’t we’ and he’s missed the past two years of us being unbelievable so it’s quite emotional to watch us.”
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Pic PA
Adam Conuel, an Ipswich Town fan, described being emotional during the celebrations after his grandad, a lifetime supporter, missed out after passing away shortly before their turnaround
An aerial view of the open-top bus during Monday’s celebrations. Pic: PA
Pic: PA
Again and again one name surfaced from fans out celebrating – their coach McKenna.
The 37-year-old Northern Irish manager has taken the English football league by storm in recent years, charging up to the Premier League.
A former Manchester United assistant manager, McKenna was praised repeatedly by fans for his handling of the club and his brand of attacking, and successful, football.
When he took charge of Ipswich, they were languishing in League One and now within three years he has catapulted them to the Premier League.
Ipswich fans with flares outside the stadium before their final match on Saturday. Pic: Reuters
Keep up with all the latest news from the UK and around the world by following Sky News
Speaking on board the bus, McKenna told Sky Sports News: “It’s an incredible turnout, amazing seeing so much joy.
“Everyone deserves it, the whole town deserves it, the players … for how hard they’ve worked. And the supporters, who’ve followed so loyally for years and have been waiting for a day like this.
“We just set out to be as good as we could possibly be.
“The closer you get to the end you know you’re within reach of an amazing achievement and we’re so glad we were able to finish off well.”
UK
Scottish singer drafted in to replace Olly Murs at Glasgow Take That concert thought offer was a ‘joke’
A Scottish singer plucked from obscurity at the last minute to replace Olly Murs as the opening act for Take That in Glasgow has told Sky News he thought the life-changing opportunity was a “joke”.
Daniel Rooney, 26, was playing at the Radisson Red hotel opposite the OVO Hydro when news broke that Murs was forced to cancel his support act on Friday due to transport issues.
TV presenter Ross King, who was enjoying a family dinner at the hotel, was impressed with Mr Rooney’s vocals and recommended the singer to his friend and Take That frontman Gary Barlow.
With 30 minutes to go before the show was due to start, Mr Rooney was quickly whisked to the arena and opened the festivities with a range of upbeat cover songs.
Barlow later thanked him on Instagram.
Take That: Howard Donald, Gary Barlow and Mark Owen. Pic: PA
Mr Rooney, from Cambuslang in South Lanarkshire, told Sky News he thought it was a wind-up at first.
He said: “I was thinking, ‘right, who’s trying to play a wee joke on me here’. But thankfully it wasn’t a joke and Ross King was saying, ‘I’ve got an opportunity of a lifetime here, Danny boy, so are you up for it?’
“And I was.”
Mr Rooney started to feel a mixture of emotions on his way to the stage. As well as excitement, he began to feel apprehensive about what he was going to play.
He said: “I was obviously buzzing just to get that news. It was just mental.
“I had a wee discussion with the boys from Take That, who were brilliant and really good with me.
“We just agreed on making it really fun and making the songs nice big singalongs.
“It was just really great. The crowd were brilliant, and they sang to every song and the feedback was magic.”
Mr Rooney paid tribute to Mr King for the opportunity and thanked him for his warm introduction onstage to explain the situation to the crowd.
Speaking to Sky News, Mr King said: “I was listening to [Mr Rooney] while I was having dinner and was very impressed – never thinking that 30 minutes later I’d be saying ‘come with me and support Take That’.
“Gary Barlow is one of my closest pals and I’ve known the band since 1990. When Gary called me and said ‘you’re going to have to go on, Olly is stuck in London’, I thought it was a wind-up. But no.”
Mr King agreed to go on, but then pitched the idea of Mr Rooney.
Mr King added: “Daniel was the coolest guy in the Hydro and played a blinder. I was thrilled to share the stage with him and help out my old mates too.
“I know this has made news all around the world, so I hope Daniel continues to have the success he deserves.”
Keep up with all the latest news from the UK and around the world by following Sky News
Mr Rooney now intends to head into the studio to record some music.
He added: “I’ve got some ideas and demos there, so this is the opportunity to get them out now and just really capitalise on the moment.”
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Olly Murs. Pic: PA
Murs apologised for cancelling his performance at short notice after falling foul of flight issues.
The former X Factor star said he had been at Heathrow from 11am ahead of his performance on Friday night, but the flight was cancelled after “several delays” and an accident with a cabin crew member.
He later shared a video of himself being driven to Glasgow for his Saturday and Sunday performances.
Speaking on ITV’s Lorraine programme on Monday, Murs paid tribute to Mr Rooney for holding his nerve and being able to perform in front of an arena crowd of thousands with just 30 minutes’ notice.
Murs said: “Fair play to him, that’s amazing. You know what, credit to him.”
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