LONDON — Alfie Coleman was found guilty of preparing for terrorist acts following a retrial at the Old Bailey. The former supermarket worker from Great Notley in Essex was remanded into custody pending sentencing on 8 July.

Coleman began searching the internet for extreme rightwing material from the age of 14 and downloaded a neo-Nazi text on his iPad. In July 2021, he emailed the far-right white supremacist organisation Patriotic Alternative, writing, "I would like to start participating in activism." In the summer of 2023, he became increasingly active on online extreme rightwing groups.

Coleman compiled a hate list of colleagues and customers he branded with racial slurs or as race traitors, and wrote a manifesto in a diary. He identified potential targets including the lord mayor of London and a mosque, and wrote plans for potential terrorist attacks including hijacking a plane and targeting the home of the ceremonial lord mayor of London. He had mistaken the ceremonial lord mayor's address for that of the elected mayor of London, Sadiq Khan. The plans involved placing explosives in a cash machine and using knives and crossbows. The manifesto drew inspiration from extremist mass killers whom he regarded as "warriors." Prosecutor Nicholas De La Poer KC said, "He was seething with hatred as he created a list of people at work who had upset him in September 2022."

Undercover MI5 officers engaged with Coleman in encrypted chats as he sought to buy weapons. In early September 2023, he arranged to buy a Škorpion automatic weapon, an AK47 rifle, and bullets in France but quickly abandoned the plan. On 29 September 2023, the operation culminated in a Morrisons car park in Stratford, east London, where Coleman, then aged 19, arranged with an undercover officer to buy a Makarov pistol, five magazines, and 200 rounds of ammunition. Jurors saw video footage of him placing £3,500 into a Land Rover Discovery and retrieving a holdall containing a handgun and ammunition from its boot. Carrying his Tesco employee card, he was confronted by armed counter-terrorism police and forced to the ground within 30 metres of the vehicle.

Coleman admitted attempting to possess both a firearm and ammunition and pleaded guilty to possessing ten documents with information likely to be useful to terrorists, including texts on weaponry and bomb-making instructions. He denied that he was preparing for a terrorist attack, saying he was lonely and suffered with his mental health during the Covid-19 lockdowns.

Deputy Chief Constable Helen Flanagan warned that an increasing number of young people are being drawn into violent extremism, and police reported an increase in referrals of younger individuals to the Prevent programme. "Unfortunately, we are seeing younger and younger individuals getting radicalised online," Flanagan said. "Now one in five people that we deal with in counter-terrorism is a child. Horrific terrorist manifestos and other extreme material are just one click away."