02 February 2024 , 14:54
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A Breaking Bad fan with "terrorist motivations" collected plans on making homemade explosives, a court heard.
Charles Cannon was convicted of seven charges of possessing terrorist information, dating back to when he was 16 and 17- years-old. Ben Isaacs, prosecuting, told Winchester Crown Court the 22-year-old had a “dangerous mindset”. The court heard the accused, of Aldershot, Hampshire, had sent a message saying: “I am not a virgin but I am a terrorist.”
Mr Isaacs added: “He mocked up a Nazi party membership card and put his name on it. He repeated on many occasions anti-Semitic tropes, he said he would kill when speaking about people of colour, he spoke enthusiastically of the stabbing of asylum seekers. This is not a case of mimicking. Mr Cannon did have terrorist motivations and the suggestion this was balanced out by pro-LGBTQ views simply doesn’t stand up to scrutiny.”
Judge Jane Miller KC sentenced Cannon to 18 months in prison suspended for two years. She told the defendant: “It’s clear that you held, and likely still do harbour, extremist and hateful views.” But she took into consideration his age when the offences were committed and his mental health and lack of previous convictions when deciding to suspend the prison sentence.
Winchester Crown Court, where the trial was held (Surrey Live/BPM Media)Mr Isaacs told the trial Cannon, who has autism, was stopped at Luton airport under terrorism regulations in August 2020 and a search of his phone found the guide on making explosives. He said further searches of his devices and his computer at his home uncovered other documents plus racist, anti-Semitic and misogynistic messages on social media.
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The documents found on his computer included guides on homemade explosives, “unconventional warfare devices and techniques”, and “booby traps”. Cannon said he had downloaded the files as part of a cache of documents on a file-sharing website which were part of a collection created in the name of Uncle Fester. This is the pseudonym of Steve Preisler who produced books on the manufacture of methamphetamine in the 1980s and was jailed for possession of the illegal drug.
He claimed he wanted to research the production of the drug as part of his fixation on the show Breaking Bad which tells the story of a teacher who starts making the drug to fund his cancer treatment. Cannon admitted that he had previously held “vile and disgusting” views, but his politics he said had changed under the influence of his Brazilian wife who he married a year ago. The former Catholic school pupil, who went on to work for Procter & Gamble after leaving school, said: “I used to believe in some very vile and disgusting things but she has changed me for the better.”