Three far–right extremists who idolised Hitler and amassed an arsenal of more than 200 weapons have today been sentenced to 29 years in prison for plotting terrorist attacks on mosques and synagogues across Britain.
Christopher Ringrose, 34, Marco Pitzettu, 25, and Brogan Stewart, 25, were jailed for 10 years, eight years and 11 years respectively at Sheffield Crown Court of preparing acts of terrorism and collecting information useful to would–be attackers.
The trio – from Staffordshire, Derbyshire and West Yorkshire – were obsessed with Nazi ideology and glorified mass murderers, exchanging racist slurs and violent fantasies in encrypted online chats.
During a two–day sentencing hearing, prosecutor Jonathan Sandiford KC told the court the men had ‘justified, encouraged and glorified serious violence’ and had been preparing to strike at religious sites.
He said that by early 2024 the group had begun identifying potential targets, including one location in Leeds, where they intended to kill multiple victims in an act of far–right terror.
Stewart, described by prosecutors as the ringleader, appointed Ringrose and Pitzettu as his ‘armourers’, urging them to make or acquire firearms and explosives.
When police raided their homes, officers uncovered a terrifying weapons cache, including machetes, swords, crossbows, and an illegal stun gun. Ringrose had also 3D–printed most of the parts for a semi–automatic firearm.
Mr Sandiford said the men were attempting to recruit others to their extremist cause and to build up their stockpile of ‘more deadly’ weapons in preparation for future attacks.
The court heard that the three had never met in person before appearing together in the dock, instead forming their ‘terror cell’ online, where they shared violent propaganda and Nazi imagery.
The judge, Mrs Justice Cutts, outlined how the online group the trio belonged to were preparing for an attack on an Islamic Education Centre in Leeds before they were arrested by counter-terror police.
She said she did not believe a terrorist attack was ‘imminent’ and the group had not decided exactly what they were going to do.
She said: ‘Mercifully your plans and preparations were being monitored and were ultimately thwarted by the authorities.
‘For that reason, they did not advance as far as I am satisfied they would otherwise have done.
‘I do however find that a terrorist attack was likely in the not too distant future.’
During their trial at Sheffield Crown Court the trio claimed they were preparing for a ‘sh*t hits the fan’ scenario such as a Russian invasion or a zombie apocalypse.
But prosecutors said in reality they preparing for a race war, discussing potential targets including religious centres and asylum hotels.
The home–made assault rifle was manufactured by Ringrose – a manager at a car parts supplier – using a £165 3D printer.
Called the FGC–9 Mk II, it was devised by a German man called Jacob Duygu, known as JStark.
He claimed he came up with it in order to take on the ‘surveillance state’ and ‘authoritarian regimes’.
It was released as a series of computer files in 2021 and has featured in a number of recent far right cases, but this is the most complete version yet seized.
The weapon was missing the barrel and firing pin but the men were sourcing the remaining components.
They had also planned a training session on woodland in Derbyshire as they prepared the attack an Islamic educational centre in Leeds.
But on January 5 last year, Stewart – a self–styled ‘stay at home domestic terrorist’ who had never had a job, and lived with his mother – messaged ‘Blackheart’ on the encrypted Telegram app.
Stewart – who had previously called for Rishi Sunak to be tortured and executed – told him he was disillusioned with other far right groups that just ‘sit around and talk’.
‘I want to get my own group together because action speaks louder than words,’ he added.
In one message he complained: ‘All our f*****g money is being handed to no good scummy bastards that want a free living for nothing.’
In another he boasted that he was a ‘stay at home domestic terrorist’ and added: ‘I can’t stress how much I want to kill a politician.’
On January 23, Stewart messaged the group, which he had named Einsatz 14 – a reference to Nazi paramilitary death squads and a white supremacist slogan.
‘Gentlemen, the time for talk is now over,’ he wrote.
‘We will be discussing and planning a mission against migrants. This is compulsory.
‘First we must locate such a target, then agree on a time and date.’
Stewart told the undercover officer that he wanted to capture and interrogate a local imam ‘who will probably be giving orders to foot soldiers.’
He said he would torture the imam using a blow torch, Stanley knife, pliers, a hammer, bleach and a syringe.
On January 30, Stewart re–posted a video to the group by far–right activist Tommy Robinson and issued a ‘mandatory order’ for a ‘gathering to start attacks on blacks and P***s.’
He then sent a voice note to Blackheart identifying the mosque he planned to target with a ‘beating with batons and bats or something more serious.’
On February 5 he told the group they would ‘cruise around’ looking for ‘human targets’ then ‘do what whatever we do then back at mine for tea and medals and a debrief.’
The members – who had never met in person – were to meet in woodland in Derbyshire on February 18 to ‘cement that brotherhood’.
But the training session was cancelled because of bad weather and the group was arrested two days later.
Stewart lived with his mother in Tingley, near Wakefield, West Yorkshire.
Images released today by police show his bedroom with childish wallpaper of diggers and cranes on one wall and a Nazi flag and white supremacist posters on another.
Ringrose, from Cannock, Staffordshire, had manufactured the 3D firearm using a Creality Printer widely available on Amazon and other suppliers.
In March 2022 a video filmed in his bedroom showed he had made most of the parts, including the trigger mechanism and magazine, and had acquired blank–firing bullets.
Appointed ‘armourer’ of the group, Ringrose – whose wife was pregnant with their second child – posted a picture of his one–year–old son wearing a skull mask associated with the far right and the words ‘choose violence’.
Fellow ‘armourer’ Pitzettu, a mechanic from Mickleover, Derbyshire, shared videos of the Christchurch mosque attack and a racist shooting spree in Buffalo, New York.
