Teen radicalized into far-right terror plot, court hears at Old Bailey

A jury at the Old Bailey convicted Alfie Coleman after hearing that he was radicalized into extreme right-wing terrorism from the age of 14 and was arrested with a pistol, magazines and ammunition moments after a covert handover in east London.

The 21-year-old, from Great Notley in Essex, was found guilty on 30 April 2026 of preparing for terrorist acts after a retrial. He had already pleaded guilty to attempting to possess a prohibited firearm and ammunition, along with 10 offences of possessing material useful for terrorism.

Police said Coleman was arrested on 29 September 2023 in a Stratford car park after exchanging £3,500 for a Makarov pistol, five magazines and about 200 rounds of ammunition. The Metropolitan Police said the weapons handover was part of a joint MI5 and Counter Terrorism Policing sting, with undercover operatives monitoring his online contacts in extreme right-wing forums. Officers said Coleman believed he was buying the gun from criminals, not intelligence officers.

The court heard that concern about Coleman had grown in summer 2023, and that he had previously tried to obtain an AK47 rifle and bullets in France before abandoning that plan. Investigators said his search for weapons, paired with extremist material on his devices, suggested a plan for a mass-casualty attack. Police and prosecutors said possible targets included a mosque, and in some accounts the Lord Mayor of London.

Coleman was also said to have compiled a list of people he branded race traitors, including colleagues and customers from the Tesco where he worked. Court reporting said one entry described a checkout worker whose husband was mixed race, and included details of her car and appearance. The Old Bailey heard that Coleman admired Adolf Hitler and Thomas Mair, who murdered MP Jo Cox in 2016, while material found on his devices included The Terrorist Explosives Handbook, the White Resistance Manual and 21 Techniques Of Silent Killing. The Independent reported that his devices also contained manifestos by Dylann Roof and Brenton Tarrant.

Commander Helen Flanagan of Counter Terrorism Policing London said the case showed how close cooperation between MI5 and counter-terror officers can stop a lethal attack before it happens. The verdict places Coleman among a wider pattern of British counter-terrorism cases in which online radicalization, weapons-seeking and target lists emerge as warning signs before violence begins.