County Durham teenager convicted of terror plot

Terrorist manuals were found on Davison's computers

A teenage white supremacist from County Durham has been found guilty of terrorism offences.

Nicky Davison, 19, was convicted of three separate charges of possessing records useful in committing or preparing acts of terrorism.

Newcastle Crown Court heard that, along with his father, he was part of a group called the Aryan Strike Force, which plotted to overthrow the government.

Terror manuals were found on computers at his Annfield Plain home last June.

The teenager's father, Ian Davison, has already admitted preparing for acts of terrorism and producing a chemical weapon, the deadly poison ricin, one of the world's most dangerous substances.

The pair will be sentenced together on 14 May. The court heard Nicky Davison helped his father administer the Aryan Strike Force website, which aimed to carry out terrorist operations.

Det Supt Neil Malkin said Davison's father was the head of the organisation

The former milkman's assistant, of Grampian Way, Annfield Plain, was a founder member of the web group set up by his 41-year-old father.

The jury at Newcastle Crown Court took 50 minutes to convict the teenager after hearing the group planned to fight against what it called the Zionist Occupied Government and believed the state had been taken over by Jews.

Jurors heard a police raid at the home he shared with his mother and younger brother found copies of The Poor Man's James Bond and the Anarchist's Cookbook on two computers.

The guides ran to thousands of pages and explained how to make bombs, detonators, silencers and pistols.

He lived in an atmosphere of extreme right-wing white supremacist neo-Nazi rhetoric and he has embraced that Det Supt Neil Malkin, Durham Police

Nicky Davison denied any knowledge of the documents and the court was told a "mischievous" friend had downloaded them.

He had written online that he was prepared to "die fighting", but his defence claimed he was now "disgusted" by his white supremacist views, and said he had joined the group to please his racist father.

After the verdict, Det Supt Neil Malkin of Durham Police said: "I have no understanding of their intended target.

"What I do know is the nature of the organisation and what it had pulled together in terms of the ricin, pipe bombs and the manuals can only give me concerns that the next step was to take it to the streets."

The detective sad the ricin was found in a sealed jar and was in a usable state.

'Paramilitary operations'

It has now been taken to the UK's chemical weapons centre at Porton Down in Salisbury.

Det Supt Malkin said the father, a former pub DJ, was the head of the organisation which had "abhorrent views" towards "ethnic minorities and Jewish people".

But the son was old enough to know his own mind, the detective added.

"He lived in an atmosphere of extreme right-wing white supremacist neo-Nazi rhetoric and he has embraced that.

"Nicky certainly had his own mind and he has gone on to further that by being involved."

The Aryan Strike Force communicated online and members used code names to identify themselves while sharing extremist violent views.

The group was in the early stages of preparation when it was raided, but was planning paramilitary operations, police added.