Date: 8 September 2009
Right-wing extremist jailed for terror offences
A jobless man who carried component parts for two viable, improvised incendiary devices in a holdall was this afternoon (8 September) given an indeterminate sentence - to serve a minimum of six years.
Neil Lewington, 44, had amassed components and material at his home, which could be used to make incendiary and explosive devices, which were found following his arrest at Lowestoft train station.
Police also found information on how to make devices, a handwritten booklet called: "Waffen SS UK Members Handbook" and far right extremist material.
At the Old Bailey today, Lewington was given an indeterminate sentence and told he must serve a minimum of six years for possessing explosive substances with intent.
He was given a 10 year jail sentence to run concurrently for engaging in conduct in preparation for acts of terrorism, contrary to Section 5(1) of the Terrorism Act 2006.
DAC John McDowall, head of the Met's Counter Terrorism Command and Senior National Co-Coordinator Counter Terrorism, said: "From time to time threats emerge from right wing extremists who are intent on undermining community cohesion in London and elsewhere in the UK.
"Neil Lewington clearly set out to make viable devices which could have seriously injured or possibly killed members of the public going about their daily lives.
"Whilst our inquiries did not uncover any details about intended targets, we do not underestimate the impact that Lewington's actions and extremist beliefs may have had on communities nationwide.
"We treat right wing extremism as seriously as any other form of violent extremism and will continue to investigate such activity with the same determination in order to keep all communities safe.
"The terrorist threat remains real and serious, and I would urge anybody with suspicions about any terrorist activity to contact the confidential Anti-Terrorist Hotline on 0800 789 321."
Lewington, of Church End Lane, Tilehurst, Reading, was found guilty by a jury at the Old Bailey on 15 July 2009.
The court was told that Lewington had had relationships with women he met on the Internet and text chat sites, but a number of them stopped seeing him due to his racist views.
One woman said Lewington told her he had been on National Front marches, and had knowledge of firearms. He bought a chemistry set for her son, but took it away himself, saying that explosives could be made from the contents in conjunction with household items.
The court heard that on Thursday, October 30, 2008, Lewington travelled by train from Reading to Lowestoft, via Paddington, to meet a woman he had met on an Internet dating site called "Hot or Not".
During the journey Lewington drank cans of lager and was verbally abusive to other passengers and the train guards.
When he got off the train at Lowestoft Lewington urinated in public and before he could meet the woman he was arrested by Suffolk Police officers who had been called to the train station.
While Lewington was being booked in at Lowestoft police station officers searched him and a blue bag he was carrying. They found:
- component parts for two improvised incendiary devices, consisting of two digital clocks, batteries, and wiring
- two cling-filmed wrapped blocks of 12 firelighters, each containing an igniter and booster tube
- a small screwdriver and two metal-hooked instruments
- a mobile phone containing racist images
- keys to his home and toolboxes later found in his bedroom
- handwritten notes made by Lewington
An explosive ordinance disposal officer examined the contents of the blue bag and made them safe. The following day, October 31, Thames Valley police began searching Lewington's home in Tilehurst, Reading, but stopped for safety reasons because of what they found.
An explosive ordinance disposal officer went to the house and detectives from the Met's Counter Terrorism Command were also contacted.
On October 31 when interviewed by Suffolk police Lewington denied having explosives or detonators and told officers that he intended to use the devices in the bag to ignite fireworks he planned to buy in Lowestoft.
Due to the material found in the blue bag and at Lewington's home the investigation was taken over by the Met's Counter Terrorism Command and on November 1 detectives arrested him under the Terrorism Act 2000.
Met officers were granted a search warrant under the Terrorism Act 2000 and they found a wide range of items in Lewington's bedroom including:
- items which could form component parts for improvised incendiary and explosive devices
- information on how to make devices
- a handwritten book called "Waffen SS UK Members Handbook" containing a "statement from the command council Waffen SS UK" and sections called "picking target areas", "transporting devices", "targeting/attacking parts", "countersurveillance"
- handwritten lists of electrical components, chemicals and their common household equivalent, names and sentences of defendants involved in a high-profile murder in Reading in May 2005, recipes for an incendiary mixture and smoke bombs, racist jokes, hand-drawn diagrams for timer devices and detonators, electrical conversion charts, press cuttings relating to terrorist activities
- containers of sodium chlorate and sodium chlorate-based weed killer, firelighters, component parts and equipment that could be used to make improvised igniters and boosters, more than 100 pyrotechnic fuses, 15 improvised electrical igniters, 35 improvised boosters containing pyrotechnic material, modified timers
- books including: "Homemade Ammo - How to Make It, How to Reload It, How to Cache It", "The Do-It-Yourself Gunpowder Cookbook"
