Teenager denies 16 charges including blackmail, terror and deepfake abuse

A 17-year-old boy denied 16 charges at Westminster Magistrates' Court, where he appeared with his parents before the case was sent to the Old Bailey. He cannot be named for legal reasons, but he confirmed his name, age and address in court and entered not guilty pleas to every count.

The allegations place unusual weight on the justice system because they combine terror-related accusations with online sexual exploitation and child-image offences. He was arrested at home in south Norfolk in April 2025 and now faces claims including making explosives, having a firearm, possessing and distributing terror manuals and stirring up racial hatred.

The court heard that he used match heads and potassium nitrate to make homemade explosives in April 2025. Prosecutors also said he created "black powder" and "improvised flash powder", part of a wider case that includes allegations he made six indecent photographs of children.

The blackmail allegations centre on a pattern of online deception. He is accused of posing as a teenage girl to lure men into sending sexual images, then using those images in an attempt to extort money. He is also alleged to have taken pictures of six teenage girls from social media and turned them into deepfake sexual images, showing how modern abuse cases can move between ordinary platforms, sexual coercion and criminal intimidation.

Separate allegations date to March 2025. He is said to have put up a poster from a white supremacist group, distributed "threatening, abusive or insulting" flyers with the intention of stirring up racial hatred, and sprayed white supremacist graffiti on a wall belonging to his local council. The mix of alleged conduct has brought counterterror policing and youth court protections into the same case, while keeping his identity out of the public record.

He was granted bail with conditions requiring him to sleep at home each night, tell police about any internet-capable devices, avoid carrying spray cans in public, stay away from witnesses and not try to leave the country. The next hearing is due at the Old Bailey in central London on 15 May.