Boy, 14, 'tried to make homemade bombs during lockdown'
Prosecutors allege the boy was influenced by Isis
Jurors were told he attempted to make bombs during the coronavirus lockdown
The boy denies preparing acts of terrorism
A teenager influenced by Isis tried to construct homemade bombs during the coronavirus lockdown and order parts through his mother’s Amazon account, a court has heard.
The 15-year-old, who cannot be named for legal reasons, is alleged to have filmed homemade videos in which he said he would “carry out jihad” and “become a martyr”.
Prosecutors claim the teenager, from Eastleigh, made bottle bombs in his wardrobe, and made a note on his phone which read: “The extinction of the western race and ethnic cleansing of the colonised land stolen by the western plague.”
He denies one count of preparing acts of terrorism.
The boy, who was 14 at the time of the alleged offence, researched homemade items to make basic explosives with and added some of those parts to his mother’s Amazon wish list, the court heard.
He wrote a note on his iPhone in which he branded women as “tools, an object to be used... a sex slave”, jurors at Leicester Crown Court were told on Tuesday.
Anne Whyte QC, prosecuting, said the case was “unusual” and the boy felt “isolated and angry about his personal circumstances”.
“As you have just heard, he is facing an allegation of preparing acts of terrorism,” she told jurors.
“In summary, it is said that, even though he was young, he had developed extremist views, radical views, associated with the terrorist organisation, Islamic State.
“This probably happened in early 2020, so this year.”
He researched and drew a basic sketch of a “dead man’s switch”, the prosecution said. Jurors were told this is as a switch a bomber could use if incapacitated or physically removed from control of an explosive by police.
Whyte said the defendant added “rusty screws” and shrapnel to his bottle bombs, which left burn marks in his wardrobe.
In his bedroom, officers found plastic bottles with foil balls in his bedside tables, a diagram of an improvised explosive device, and more bottles containing foil balls and screws were found in a wash basin in the hallway, Whyte told the court.
“He had plainly absorbed this offensive and hateful type of message from somewhere… but it is quite possible that we will never know from precisely where,” she said.
“The important point is that he seems to have responded to it and, in his own youthful way, to have embraced it.”
The court heard he would add Isis songs and its flag to his videos, and in his clips, the teenager spoke about how he wanted to make bombs to “support our brothers and sisters at the Gaza Strip” in the Middle East, the prosecution alleges.
The boy held his head in his hands as one clip was played.
Jurors were told he searched for an article about 21 Christians who were beheaded by Isis and another about an attack on churches in Indonesia, which the terror group claimed credit for.
The trial continues.
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