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
Read more:
What is ‘great replacement theory’ in Buffalo killer’s manifesto?
Buffalo shooting ‘fuelled by diet of hate’
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”.
US
Donald Trump says Vladimir Putin wants to meet – and that he and Barack Obama ‘probably’ like each other
Donald Trump says a meeting is being set up between himself and Vladimir Putin – and that he and Barack Obama “probably” like each other.
Republican US president-elect Mr Trump spoke to reporters at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida on Thursday, saying Russian president Mr Putin “wants to meet, and we are setting it up”.
“He has said that even publicly and we have to get that war over with. That’s a bloody mess,” Mr Trump said.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said on Friday there was a “mutual desire” to set up a meeting – but added no details had been confirmed yet and that there may be progress once Mr Trump is inaugurated on 20 January.
“Moscow has repeatedly declared its openness to contacts with international leaders, including the US president, including Donald Trump,” Mr Peskov added.
“What is required is a mutual desire and political will to conduct dialogue and resolve existing problems through dialogue. We see that Mr Trump also declares his readiness to resolve problems through dialogue. We welcome this. There are still no specifics, we proceed from the mutual readiness for the meeting.”
Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin in July 2017. Pic: AP
Trump on Obama: ‘We just got along’
Mr Trump also made some lighter remarks regarding a viral exchange between himself and former Democrat President Barack Obama at Jimmy Carter’s funeral on Thursday.
The pair sat together for the late president’s service in Washington DC on Thursday, and could be seen speaking for several minutes as the remaining mourners filed in before it began.
Mr Obama was seen nodding as his successor spoke before breaking into a grin.
Asked about the exchange, Mr Trump said: “I didn’t realise how friendly it looked.
“I said, ‘boy, they look like two people that like each other’. And we probably do.
“We have a little different philosophies, right? But we probably do. I don’t know. We just got along. But I got along with just about everybody.”
The amicable exchange comes after years of criticising each other in the public eye; it was Mr Trump who spread the so-called “birther” conspiracy theory about Mr Obama in 2011, falsely asserting that he was not born in the United States.
Read more:
Trump to be sentenced today over porn star hush money
The Hollywood celebrities who have lost homes to wildfires
Insults continued for years, with Mr Obama famously dedicating much of his final White House Correspondents’ Dinner speech in 2016 to jokes at his political rival’s expense.
Mr Trump has repeatedly attacked the Obamas, saying the former president was “ineffective” and “terrible” and calling former first lady Michelle Obama “nasty” as recently as October last year.
On Kamala Harris’s campaign trail last year, Mr Obama said Mr Trump was a “78-year-old billionaire who has not stopped whining about his problems since he rode down his golden escalator nine years ago”, while the former first lady said that “the consequences of him ever being president again are brutally serious.”
“He was asleep in his bed, where he still is right now, as I wait on the coroner.”
The haunting words of Kimiko Nickerson stopped us in our tracks.
Her father Rodney, 82, was sure the fire wouldn’t reach his home in Altadena. He was wrong.
The inferno cut through this quiet suburb north of Los Angeles at an alarming rate, its path unpredictable.
California wildfires latest – new evacuation order issued
She said: “He just didn’t want to evacuate. He’s been living here since 1968, and he’s been in Altadena my whole life.
“Like all of us on this block, in four blocks, he didn’t think it was going to be this devastating.
“It jumped whole streets, and it hit this community, but it didn’t touch the mountainside at all.”
They’re still trying to process the apocalyptic scenes here and grieving for those who did not get out.
Kimiko said: “I have no words to explain my feelings at this point in time.
“I’m just silent and numb and just mentally trying to go through the process.”
Rodney Nickerson decided not to leave his Altadena home.
Pic: Kimiko Nickerson
‘Truly apocalyptic scenes’ as flames swallow homes in LA wildfires evacuation zone
It would be impossible to exaggerate the scale of the destruction, cars burnt to a cinder, palm trees still alight, powerlines strewn across roads.
So many people have lost the roof over their head but there’s one thing Kimiko says she’ll never lose – her memories.
“Every laugh, every joke he told.
“He was a smart man. He read the LA Times from cover to cover and walked around the Rose Bowl every day.
“He was healthy, he was ambitious… but he went to sleep and died in his bed back there.”
The US Supreme Court has rejected a last-ditch attempt by Donald Trump to delay sentencing in the Stormy Daniels hush money case.
The president-elect was convicted on 34 counts last May in New York of falsifying business records relating to payments made to Ms Daniels before the 2016 presidential election.
Prosecutors claimed he had paid her $130,000 (£105,300) in hush money to not reveal details of what Ms Daniels said was a sexual relationship in 2006.
Mr Trump has denied any liaison with Ms Daniels or any wrongdoing.
By a majority, the Supreme Court found his sentencing would not be an insurmountable burden during the presidential transition since the presiding judge, Juan M Merchan, has indicated he will not give Mr Trump jail time, fines or probation.
Mr Trump’s attorneys argued that evidence used in the Manhattan trial violated last summer’s Supreme Court ruling giving Mr Trump broad immunity from prosecution over acts he took as president.
At the least, they said, the sentencing should be delayed while their appeals play out to avoid distracting Mr Trump during the presidential transition.
A guide to everything that will happen on 20 January
Stormy Daniels. Pic: AP
Mr Trump’s attorneys went to the justices after New York courts refused to postpone sentencing.
Judges in New York found that the convictions related to personal matters rather than Mr Trump’s official acts as president.
Mr Trump’s attorneys called the case politically motivated, and they said sentencing him now would be a “grave injustice” that threatens to disrupt the presidential transition as the Republican prepares to return to the White House.
Mr Trump has said he will appeal again: “I respect the court’s opinion – I think it was actually a very good opinion for us because you saw what they said, but they invited the appeal and the appeal is on the bigger issue. So, we’ll see how it works out,” he said at a dinner with Republican governors at his private club in Florida.
Because the New York case was a state, rather than federal crime, Mr Trump will not be able to pardon himself when he takes office on 20 January.
-
Sports2 years ago‘Storybook stuff’: Inside the night Bryce Harper sent the Phillies to the World Series
-
Sports9 months agoStory injured on diving stop, exits Red Sox game
-
Sports1 year agoGame 1 of WS least-watched in recorded history
-
Sports2 years agoMLB Rank 2023: Ranking baseball’s top 100 players
-
Sports3 years ago
Team Europe easily wins 4th straight Laver Cup
-
Environment2 years agoJapan and South Korea have a lot at stake in a free and open South China Sea
-
Environment2 years agoGame-changing Lectric XPedition launched as affordable electric cargo bike
-
Business2 years agoBank of England’s extraordinary response to government policy is almost unthinkable | Ed Conway