Teenage neo-Nazi who planned suicide bomb attack on synagogue jailed for eight years

Published

12 months ago

June 14, 2024

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A sixth form student from Brighton who drew up plans for a suicide bomb attack on a local synagogue has been jailed for eight years for terrorism offences.

Mason Reynolds, 19, from Moulscoomb was a student studying bricklaying and roofing and doing part-time labouring work on the side.

He lived with his parents and was described as leading “in many ways, a not untypical existence of a young man in his late teens”.

However, Naomi Parsons, prosecuting, told Winchester Crown Court that Reynolds was a neo-Nazi who believed the white race was “destined to dominate the rest of mankind”.

She said 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.”

When Reynolds was arrested, police found a note on his phone created on 7 May 2023 entitled “Enough Larping” – a call to action that referred to ending his “live action role play”.

The note included a 13-second video from Google Maps showing the exterior of Hove Synagogue, and Reynolds had listed its address and the CCTV cameras and fire exits.

He added: “Possible buzzer to get into the building, 1 camera on left side (side entrance locked by gate).”

On another image he had marked “quickest and efficient way in”, adding: “Could be good for surprise attack.”

Reynolds had attached images of synagogues in Missouri and Washington in the US and in Edinburgh as “examples of what to expect inside”.

Underneath he had written: “The Jewish holidays that tend to have the most people in synagogues are Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, and Passover.”

In June, Reynolds produced an image on a video app called CapCut with the words “Make Jews Afraid Again”.

Later on the same day, a discussion took place on Telegram with another teenager using the sign-on AR15 – a reference to an assault rifle.

Reynolds told him: “I wanna strap multiple pipe [bombs] to my chest and blow myself up inside a synagogue… I have a plan.”

Without identifying his target, he told the other user: “They won’t let me through the buzzer door if suspicious, like Stephan Balliet” – a reference to a German-born neo-Nazi who used homemade weapons to kill two people, after failing to get into a synagogue in Halle, Germany, in October 2019.

Police also discovered Reynolds had copies of the Mujahideen’s Explosives Handbook, the Terrorist’s Handbook, and the Anarchist Cookbook on his computer, along with files used to make a 3D printed assault rifle called the FGC-9.

Reynolds was one of two administrators for the “Far-Right Sigmas” channel on the Telegram app, a neo-Nazi propaganda channel which was set up in late November 2022 by “AR15” in Poland.

The channel promoted the view that society was in decay and the fault lay with Jewish people who controlled the financial institutions, the media and encouraged immigration, resulting in the “dilution” of the white race.

The channel had nearly 350 subscribers and produced content that glorified Nazis including Adolf Hitler, Joseph Goebbels, and Heinrich Himmler, leader of the Waffen SS, as well as far-right killers including Anders Breivik, Brenton Tarrant, and Dylann Roof, who killed nine black people at a church in Charleston, South Carolina.

“It hoped, it seems, to create neo-Nazis of the future,” Ms Parsons said.

One of the clips circulated by Reynolds featured Stephan Balliet, who livestreamed his attempted attack with homemade rifles and bombs.

Speaking of Tarrant, who livestreamed an attack that killed 51 people in two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, Reynolds commented: “It’d be 10x better seeing Jews get killed.”

In the channel’s chatroom, Reynolds also distributed videos of the Christchurch attack, and Breivik’s attack in Norway in 2011, which killed 67 people.

Much of the material on the channel was edited from propaganda produced by an organisation called Atomwaffen Division, a US based terrorist organisation banned by the UK government in July 2021.

Reynolds pleaded guilty to four offences of possessing material useful for terrorism and five offences of distributing material likely to encourage terrorism. He was found guilty of possessing an article for terrorist purposes.

After his arrest, Reynolds told police he was hurt that his friends viewed him as someone who was “all talk and no action” and wanted them to stop calling him a “LARP” – live action role player.

He had written the note in 15 minutes, forgot to delete it and thought no more about it, he said.

Jailing Reynolds for eight years with an extended licence of five years, Mrs Justice May accepted that he did nothing to carry his plan and that his “secret life” was now out in the open.

But she said she considered him “dangerous” and added: “These ideas are immensely attractive, to young men in particular, and while only a small fraction of those who hold these beliefs act on them, the consequences are catastrophic as history has shown.”

UK

Air India confirms 241 dead after plane crash – with one Briton surviving

Published

4 hours ago

June 13, 2025

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Air India confirms 241 dead after plane crash - with one Briton surviving

Air India has confirmed that 241 people on board a flight to London Gatwick have died after the aircraft crashed shortly after take-off – with just one person surviving.

The Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, which was carrying 53 Britons, crashed into a doctors’ hostel in a residential area moments after taking off from Ahmedabad airport, in western India.

India plane crash latest: Follow live updates

Air India has said 229 passengers and 12 crew died. Authorities have not confirmed how many people on the ground were killed or injured.

The airline said it “offers its deepest condolences to the families of the deceased”.

“Our efforts now are focused entirely on the needs of all those affected, their families and loved ones,” the statement continued.

The sole survivor is British man Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, who was travelling on the flight with his brother.

He told the Hindustan Times newspaper he heard a “loud noise” around 30 seconds after take-off before the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner went down.

“It all happened so quickly,” he said, adding that he suffered “impact injuries” to his chest, eyes and feet. “When I got up, there were bodies all around me. I was scared. I stood up and ran.”

The passengers included 169 Indian nationals, 53 British nationals, seven Portuguese nationals and one Canadian national.

In a statement posted on Facebook, Gloucester Muslim Community said Akeel Nanabawa, his wife Hannaa and their four-year-old daughter Sara had died in the crash.

They said: “No words can truly ease the pain of such a profound loss, but we pray that the family may find solace in the tremendous outpouring of compassion and solidarity from communities across the world.”

Also on the flight were married couple Fiongal and Jamie Greenlaw-Meek from west London. They had posted a video from the airport on their Instagram feed shortly before boarding.

Videos show the aircraft, which departed from Ahmedabad to London Gatwick at 1.38pm local time, struggling to gain altitude in the seconds after taking off.

It then begins to descend and a fireball can be seen as the plane crashes, with massive plumes of thick black smoke rising into the sky.

Other images show the aircraft’s tail after it crashed into the roof of the BJ Medical College Hostel in the Meghaninagar area.

Tata Sons, which owns the airline, said it will give around £86,000 to the families of each person who died, cover the medical expenses of those injured, and provide support to rebuild the medical hostel.

Ahmedabad airport said the plane crashed “shortly after take-off, outside the airport”. Flights were suspended until shortly after 4pm local time.

In a statement, London Gatwick said the flight was due to land at 6.25pm UK time on Thursday and a reception centre for relatives of those on board was set up where information and support will be provided.

Flight tracking website Flightradar said a signal was last received from the aircraft less than a minute after take-off.

It is the first ever crash of a Boeing 787 Dreamliner, according to the Aviation Safety Network database.

The model, a widebody, twin-engine plane, has made five million journeys in the 14 years since its first passenger flight.

Sir Keir Starmer said the scenes emerging were “devastating”. He added: “Our hearts and our thoughts are absolutely with the friends and families of all of those affected.”

The prime minister said the British government is in “constant contact” with the Indian authorities and has dispatched an investigation team of its own.

The King said he and the Queen were “desperately shocked by the terrible events” in a post on X.

“Our special prayers and deepest possible sympathy are with the families and friends of all those affected by this appallingly tragic incident across so many nations, as they await news of their loved ones,” he said.

The foreign office said the UK is “working with local authorities in India to urgently establish the facts and provide support to those involved”.

British nationals who require consular assistance are advised to call 020 7008 5000, while Air India has set up hotlines to provide information on 1800 5691 444 for those calling within India and +91 806 2779 200 for foreign nationals.

India’s prime minister Narendra Modi said in a post on X: “The tragedy in Ahmedabad has stunned and saddened us.

“It is heartbreaking beyond words. In this sad hour, my thoughts are with everyone affected by it.”

India’s worst aviation tragedy in decades

It’s the worst aviation tragedy the country has seen in decades, writes Sky News India correspondent Neville Lazarus.

The images of the aircraft plunging to the ground into a fireball and the horizon filled with black smoke will haunt the nation for a very long time.

Some 242 passengers, including children and 12 crew members, were on the ill-fated flight.

The aircraft, which lost altitude soon after take-off, crashed into residential quarters of BJ Medical College doctors in Ahmedabad’s Meghaninagar area.

Images of parts of the plane can be seen hanging precariously on the building of the hostel, having caused severe damage.

A large number of residents are feared dead in the speciality doctors’ buildings, which have 94 flats and about 200 people living in them.

The nation is in shock as bodies, some beyond recognition, are being brought into hospitals across the city. There are many injured and some in critical condition.

India’s civil aviation minister Ram Mohan Naidu Kinjarapu said he was “shocked and devastated” to learn about the crash.

“We are on highest alert,” he said. “I am personally monitoring the situation and have directed all aviation and emergency response agencies to take swift and coordinated action.

“Rescue teams have been mobilised, and all efforts are being made to ensure medical aid and relief support are being rushed to the site.”

Aviation expert Julian Bray told Sky News he understands the pilot managed to make a mayday call, meaning the crew was aware of a problem before the crash.

Air India was acquired by Tata Group from the Indian government in January 2022 after racking up billions of pounds of losses.

The group now operates more than 8,300 weekly flights on 312 routes, connecting more than 100 domestic and international destinations with a fleet of 300 aircraft.

The airline’s chairman Natarajan Chandrasekaran described the incident as a “tragic accident” and a “devastating event” and said emergency response teams were at the site.

“At this moment, our primary focus is on supporting all the affected people and their families,” he said.

“We are doing everything in our power to assist the emergency response teams at the site and to provide all necessary support and care to those impacted.”

A Boeing spokesperson said: “We are in contact with Air India regarding Flight 171 and stand ready to support them. Our thoughts are with the passengers, crew, first responders and all affected.”

UK

British crash survivor told family ‘I don’t know how I’m alive’ seconds after plane came down

Published

17 hours ago

June 12, 2025

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British crash survivor told family 'I don't know how I'm alive' seconds after plane came down

The British man who survived the Air India plane crash told his family “I don’t know how I’m alive” in a phone call seconds after the plane came down, his brother has told Sky News.

Vishwash Kumar Ramesh is the only passenger reported to have survived after Air India Flight 171 crashed into a building shortly after take-off in Ahmedabad, Gujarat on Thursday afternoon.

India plane crash – latest updates

Relatives confirmed they had spoken to him since the crash – but they have not been able to contact his brother who was also believed to be on board.

Speaking from Leicester, Mr Ramesh’s brother Nayan told Sky News’ Shamaan Freeman-Powell that their father was on the phone to Vishwash while the plane was still on the runway.

“My dad called him,” the 27 year old said. “And Vishwash said ‘oh we’re going to take off soon.”

Two minutes later, their father received a video call from Mr Ramesh to say the plane had crashed and he had survived.

“He video called my dad as he crashed and said ‘Oh the plane’s crashed. I don’t know where my brother is. I don’t see any other passengers. I don’t know how I’m alive – how I exited the plane’,” Nayan said.

Vidhi Chaudhary, a senior police officer in Ahmedabad, said Mr Ramesh was “near the emergency exit” and “managed to escape by jumping out the emergency door”.

Mr Ramesh earlier told the Hindustan Times that he heard a “loud noise” around 30 seconds after take-off – and before the plane went down.

“It all happened so quickly,” he told the newspaper, adding he had received “impact injuries” to his chest, eyes and feet.

“When I got up, there were bodies all around me. I was scared. I stood up and ran. There were pieces of the plane all around me.

“Someone grabbed hold of me and put me in an ambulance and brought me to the hospital.”

Sky News India correspondent Neville Lazarus spoke to Mr Ramesh in hospital and he said he was “okay”.

I spoke to survivor in hospital

Vishwash Kumar Ramesh was conscious, half sitting on his bed in blue hospital scrubs when I walked into the ward. He had bruises on his hands and face and was speaking to an attendant and some plain clothes police men.

I introduced myself and asked how he was. He acknowledged with a nod and said he was ok. By then the police and the hospital administrators stopped me going any further and ushered me out of the ward.

Dr Shariq told me he was the first to attend to Mr Ramesh when the ambulance brought him to the trauma centre.

“He was alright, had few cuts on his hands and face. There was nothing majorly wrong at all. He limped a bit. But he was mentally shaken up.”

Conscious and alert is how he described his condition.

A thorough check-up was done and he was shifted to the special ward.

A miracle survivor is what everyone is calling him here. And that he is. Surviving a crash of that magnitude is nothing short of a miracle.

Outside his ward and across is the mortuary where dozens of relatives and friends have gathered to identify their loved ones. Wails and cries break out every time an ambulance arrives.

The process of identifying bodies is taking place with DNA matching from relatives.

One hospital staff member told me “some are charred beyond recognition and it’s really bad.”

‘Miracle’ he escaped

Nayan Kumar Ramesh said he was supposed to be collecting his brother from Gatwick Airport on Thursday and the whole family planned to come together for a gathering this weekend.

“I’ve got no words to describe it,” he said. “It’s a miracle that he survived – but what about the other miracle for my other brother.”

Asked how he and his relatives were feeling, he replied: “Devastated. I’m scared to fly now – to even sit on a plane.”

Footage shared widely on social media showed Mr Ramesh limping away from the crash site and being led towards emergency services.

He told Indian media he has lived in London for 20 years. According to the Hindustan Times report, Mr Ramesh is 40 – but official flight documents list his age as 38.

He told the newspaper his brother was sitting in a different row on the plane. “We visited Diu. He was travelling with me and I can’t find him anymore. Please help me find him.”

Three Britons dead

Three Britons have been confirmed to have died in the crash – all members of the same family.

Akeel Nanabawa, his wife Hannaa, and their four-year-old daughter Sara were among those who perished on the plane, Gloucester Muslim Community said on Facebook.

The aircraft departed Ahmedabad for London Gatwick at 1.38pm local time on Thursday, carrying 242 passengers and crew members.

They included 169 Indian nationals, 53 British nationals, seven Portuguese nationals and one Canadian national, the airline said.

According to tracking website Flightradar, a signal was last received from the plane less than a minute after it took off.

It then crashed into a medical school’s residential quarters in Meghaninagar, Ahmedabad, the largest city in Gujarat state.

In a statement, London Gatwick said the flight was due to land at 6.25pm UK time on Thursday and a reception centre for relatives of those on board is being set up where information and support will be provided.

The UK Foreign Office said it is “working with local authorities in India to urgently establish the facts and provide support to those involved”.

British nationals who require consular assistance are advised to call 020 7008 5000, while Air India has set up hotlines to provide information on +91 806 2779 200 for foreign nationals or 1800 5691 444 if calling from India.

Initially, an Ahmedabad city police commissioner claimed there appeared to be no survivors.

The local police chief later said that at least 204 bodies had been recovered from the crash site, according to Reuters.

Thursday’s is the first crash of a Boeing 787 Dreamliner in its history, according to the Aviation Safety Network database.

The model, a widebody, twin-engine plane, has made five million journeys in the 14 years since its first passenger flight.

Meanwhile, India’s prime minister Narendra Modi offered his condolences in a post on X.

“The tragedy in Ahmedabad has stunned and saddened us,” he wrote. “It is heartbreaking beyond words. In this sad hour, my thoughts are with everyone affected by it.”

This breaking news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly.

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UK

Thousands of Poundland jobs at risk as shops to close after company sold

Published

22 hours ago

June 12, 2025

admin

Thousands of Poundland jobs at risk as shops to close after company sold

Thousands of jobs are at risk after discount high street chain Poundland was sold – with dozens of shops expected to shut.

Poundland has been sold for a headline figure of €1 to investment firm and former Laura Ashley owners Gordon Brothers, confirming Sky News reporting.

Its previous owners, the Poland-based Pepco Group, however, are to be repaid tens of millions of pounds as part of the sale.

Poundland employs roughly 16,000 people across an estate of over 800 shops in the UK and Ireland.

Around 100 stores are expected to close, and rent reviews are also expected to be negotiated with Poundland landlords.

The chain, known for selling products for £1, was put on the market earlier this year after a downturn in trading. Employers’ tax hikes announced by Chancellor Rachel Reeves in the November budget increased the financial pressure on high street retailers.

As part of the deal, a restructuring plan requiring High Court approval will take place. Details of that restructuring will be communicated in “due course”, owners Pepco said.

It will retain a minority stake in Poundland.

Pepco said the deal would help it shift away from food and drinks, improve its revenue growth and boost its profitability

Stephan Borchert, Pepco Group’s chief executive, said: “This transaction will strongly support our accelerated value creation programme by simplifying the group and focusing on our successful Pepco business.

“Poundland remains a key player in UK discount retail, with millions of customers annually and a well-loved brand and proposition.”