A man was arrested in Lowestoft, Suffolk for initially abusing a train conductor. It later emerged, after being searched, that he was carrying component parts of two “viable, improvised incendiary devices” , the jury heard at the Old Bailey. Forty-three year old Neil Lewington was described by the prosecution to be a fanatical racist who wanted to target those he thought were “non-British”. Brain Altman QC leading the prosecution gave reports of the evidence that supported his statement.

In the event of Mr Lewington’s house being searched, following his arrest, it was revealed that a notebook entitled “Waffen SS UK members” handbook, which contained drawings of electronics and chemical mixtures was found. In addition, “the police discovered evidence that the defendant sympathised with and quite clearly adhered to white supremacist and racist views.” An “unhealthy interest in the infamous “London Nail Bomber” David Copeland, who was a member and local unit leader of the Neo-Nazi British National Socialist Movement and targeted the Black, Asian and Gay communities in his 13-day bombing campaign.

Mr Altman said: "The effect of these finds is to prove that this man, who had strong if not fanatical right-wing leanings and opinions, was on the cusp of embarking on a campaign of terrorism against those he considered non-British.
"In the privacy of his own bedroom and far from the gaze of his parents with whom he lived, this defendant had amassed the component parts of and had begun the manufacture of improvised explosive or incendiary devices,"

He had been unemployed for 10 years after being sacked from his last job for being drunk and, though he lived with his parents, he had not spoken to his father for 10 years. His mother said he had placed Plasticine in the keyhole of his bedroom door so no-one could see inside, the court heard.

The court also heard that Mr Lewington, described as "a loner", had met a number of girlfriends through mobile phone chatlines. One said she was put off when he made racist remarks, while another - an army cadet sergeant - said he asked if she had dealings with the Nazi group Combat 18, a splintered fraction of the National Front related to the British National Party.

Mr Lewington is accused of preparing for terrorism by having the bomb parts in a public place. He also faces two charges of having articles for terrorism - including the weedkiller, firelighters and three tennis balls – two more charges of having documents for terrorism and another of collecting information for terrorism. Two further counts allege he possessed an explosive device "with intent to endanger life" and that he had explosives, namely weedkiller.

He denies eight charges related to terrorism or explosives.

MPACUK Comment: A number of issues arise from this chance occurrence. Firstly, a stark and worrying contrast is given when we have, on the one hand, Mr Lewington has had hard evidence of an intended residential-based terror campaign, and on the other, a large number of suspected Pakistani students who were released by the police are still held by political figures on no shred of evidence, for similar or any form of terrorism. Secondly, given the rise of white supremacy organisations and individuals, shouldn’t the police stop the racial profiled searches of Asian Muslims, as they did with the black community in the 70s? Black racial profiling in the 70s not only hindered overall effectiveness to tacking crime, but also caused elements of the black community to become more uncivil. Do we want to repeat the same mistakes again?