Daniel De Simone Profile picture
Investigations Correspondent for BBC News /daniel.desimone@bbc.co.uk / Threema secure messenger ID: D3EHEVBK
Mar 22 5 tweets 1 min read
A teenager who promoted neo-Nazi Satanism has been jailed for terrorism offences and having videos of a 13-year-old girl cutting his name into her body.

Vincent Charlton can be publicly named after reporting restrictions were lifted following an application by the BBC Image Newcastle Crown Court heard Charlton had videos of the girl - who lives in the USA - and that messages between them “demonstrate the control Vincent exerted over a vulnerable young child which caused her to harm herself and send images of that harm to him”
Dec 11, 2021 11 tweets 4 min read
Huge day yesterday as families and friends of serial killer Stephen Port's victims were totally vindicated by an inquest jury.

They conducted their own investigations, linked the deaths, and warned officers about the danger to gay men

They'd seen what the Met Police would not ImageImageImageImage The four bereaved families say the Met’s inadequate investigations “should be on public record as one of the most widespread institutional failures in modern history.”

The failings are too many to list.

This piece describes some of them.

bbc.co.uk/news/uk-595767…
Nov 30, 2021 12 tweets 3 min read
BREAKING: Ben Raymond, co-founder of the neo-Nazi terrorist group National Action, has been convicted of remaining a member after it was outlawed Raymond, from Swindon, was convicted of staying in the organisation following its December 2016 proscription.

A jury at Bristol Crown Court also found him guilty of two charges of possessing information useful to a terrorist
Nov 25, 2021 9 tweets 2 min read
The convicted terrorist Abdalraouf Abdallah is now giving evidence here at the Manchester Arena Inquiry.

He's been brought to court from prison Abdalraouf Abdallah says that text exchanges with Salman Abedi in which they discussed martyrdom were “normal chitchat”.

He denied radicalising the bomber, saying “I don’t even have an extreme mindset myself” and “I’m not a groomer and I wasn’t grooming Salman to anything”
Jun 11, 2021 15 tweets 4 min read
BREAKING: Andrew Dymock, the neo-Nazi who created two banned terrorist groups, has been convicted of 12 terror offences Dymock, from Bath, was first exposed by a BBC investigation in 2018.

An Old Bailey jury also found him guilty of three hate crimes.

He's from an academic home
Jun 4, 2021 18 tweets 3 min read
Andrew Dymock tells a court that flags he personally paid for the manufacture of - and which contained a logo used by the neo-Nazi terror group Sonnenkrieg Division - were really for a pagan airsoft team linked to "proto-European polytheism" Dymock, charged with multiple terror offences and hate crimes, says that it's a coincidence that someone else had an identical flag - during a photo shoot involving salutes that he took part in - the day after he took delivery of his flags
Jun 3, 2021 20 tweets 3 min read
Andrew Dymock, on trial for multiple neo-Nazi terror offences, breaks down in the witness box as he says a teenage girl set him up.

"The police should have turned up and tried to protect me", he says.

Many offences were allegedly committed before he actually met the girl "You guys should have saved me from her", he tells the prosecution.

He told the court yesterday: “I was extremely vulnerable and taken advantage of” and that the girl was “extremely seductive”.

Today he said she was a "femme fatale"
Jun 2, 2021 11 tweets 2 min read
Alleged neo-Nazi terrorist Andrew Dymock denies being a racist and tells the Old Bailey: "I'm friends with an individual who's black" Dymock also claims a teenage girl "pressured" him (he was nearly 21 at the time) into posing in a skull mask for pictures while doing a Nazi salute.

"I had kidney issues which were affecting my judgment", he tells the court
May 6, 2021 14 tweets 3 min read
Andrew Dymock goes on trial at the Old Bailey charged with multiple terrorism offences linked to allegations of organised neo-Nazi activity in the UK He faces 15 charges

5 x encouraging terrorism
4 x disseminating terrorist publications
2 x terrorist fundraising
1 x possessing terrorist info
1 x possessing racially inflammatory material
1 x stirring up racial hatred
1 x stirring up hate on the grounds of sexual orientation
Apr 30, 2021 5 tweets 1 min read
Ben Styles, 23, from Leamington Spa, has appeared in court charged with planning an extreme right-wing terror attack.

It's alleged he began making a firearm, had live ammo, and drafted a manifesto It's alleged that between 2019 and February 2021 he purchased items and acquired instructions to construct a lethal firearm and live ammunition, the partial construction of a lethal firearm, the manufacture of live ammunition and the composition of a draft “manifesto”
Apr 30, 2021 10 tweets 2 min read
Ben Hannam, recently sacked from the Met Police, is being sentenced this morning at the Old Bailey for neo-Nazi terror offences, fraud, and possessing prohibited images of children.

We are hearing details of the images offence for the first time today (upsetting info below) When the home of the then police constable was searched by Met detectives last year, his computer was found to contain a folder of “anime cartoons” of children and young people.

At the time, Hannam was working as an officer among north London communities
Apr 28, 2021 4 tweets 1 min read
BREAKING: Two police officers have been charged with misconduct in public office in connection with photographs taken and circulated relating to the scene where sisters Bibaa Henry and Nicole Smallman were murdered last summer PC Deniz Jaffer, 47, and PC Jamie Lewis, 32 - of the Met Police - will appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on 27 May 2021 for their first hearing.

Both officers have each been charged with one count of misconduct in public office
Apr 28, 2021 6 tweets 2 min read
Ben Raymond (and supporter) outside court just now.

Raymond appeared here charged with remaining a member of the neo-Nazi group National Action after it was banned.

He's also charged with three counts of possessing information useful to a terrorist National Action was co-founded by Raymond in 2013 before being proscribed as a terrorist organisation three years later.

Westminster Magistrates' Court heard that he's alleged to have stayed in the group between December 2016 and September 2017
Apr 27, 2021 4 tweets 1 min read
A senior British Transport Police officer has admitted his force failed to work effectively with other emergency services on the night of the Manchester Arena bombing

bbc.co.uk/news/uk-englan… Robin Smith was the BTP 'gold commander' that night.

The Manchester Arena Inquiry heard he only spoke to the gold commander at Greater Manchester Police two hours and 45 minutes after the attack
Apr 27, 2021 20 tweets 4 min read
Thread on evidence today at the inquests for Jack Merritt and Saskia Jones.

The evidence focused on the killer Usman Khan, a convicted terrorist seen here going to London alone after the trip was approved by police and probation.

His attack happened within hours of this image Khan, originally from Stoke, spent eight years in prison before his automatic release on licence in December 2018.

A court of appeal judgment on Khan meant the parole board had no say over whether he was released at that stage
Apr 8, 2021 7 tweets 2 min read
The Manchester Arena and Parsons Green bombers have appeared in court charged with assaulting a prison officer.

Hashem Abedi said: "I did assault that filthy pig but I don't see any wrongdoing in doing that".

Ahmed Hassan said the judge was destined for "hellfire" The pair appeared at Westminster Magistrates' Court from different rooms at HMP Frankland, County Durham.

They are accused of assaulting the officer together at London's Belmarsh prison last May.

Abedi is accused of assaulting a second officer during the same incident
Apr 1, 2021 17 tweets 4 min read
BREAKING: A Metropolitan Police officer has been convicted of membership of the banned neo-Nazi terrorist organisation National Action.

Benjamin Hannam, 22, from north London, is the first British officer to be convicted of a terrorism offence He remained in NA after it was outlawed.

Hannam then joined the police after lying about his past in an application form.

He was also convicted of two counts of fraud and two counts of possessing information useful to a terrorist
Dec 23, 2020 9 tweets 2 min read
A one-man neo-Nazi “propaganda machine” who encouraged racist mass murder has been jailed for a string of terror offences.

Luke Hunter, 23, of Newcastle, was affiliated with the now-banned group Feuerkrieg Division.

He's the son of a former counter terrorism officer Image The defendant was sentenced at Leeds Crown Court to four years and two months in prison.

Hiding behind an alias, Hunter posted extremist material to several online platforms, including his own website, podcast, and a channel on the Telegram messaging app
Nov 3, 2020 6 tweets 1 min read
The terrorist threat level for the UK is moved from substantial (meaning an attack is likely) to severe (an attack is highly likely).

The decision is made by Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre.

It had been downgraded to substantial a year ago tomorrow In the year since it was downgraded there have been four attacks declared as terrorist incidents - Fishmongers Hall, HMP Whitemoor, Streatham, and Reading.

There have also been three alleged terrorist plots
Sep 9, 2020 9 tweets 2 min read
The Arena Inquiry hears about criticisms that an expert has made of the fire and rescue service response on the night of the bomb Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service chose a "distant and detached" rendezvous point three miles from the Arena.

It was different from that used by other services during the initial response.

Fire engines did not arrive at the Arena until two hours after the attack
Aug 19, 2020 35 tweets 9 min read
The sentencing hearing for Hashem Abedi will get underway at 10:30am here at the Old Bailey in London.

In March, Abedi was convicted of murdering the 22 victims of the Manchester Arena bombing, the attempted murder of those who survived, and conspiracy to cause an explosion Image Abedi disengaged from the proceedings several weeks into the trial.

Today the court will hear victim impact statements from those affected by the attack.

The background to the case is here bbc.co.uk/news/uk-519082…