Neo-Nazi sentenced to 13½ years for terrorist plot

A 22-year-old man who plotted a terrorist attack after being radicalized online as a teenager was sentenced to 13 and a half years in prison on Wednesday. Alfie Coleman, from Great Notley, Essex, was found guilty of preparing acts of terrorism following a retrial at London's Old Bailey earlier this year.

Coleman was arrested in a counter-terrorism sting on September 29, 2023, after he handed over £3,500 to an undercover officer in a supermarket car park in Stratford, east London, for what he believed was a Makarov pistol, five magazines, and 200 rounds of ammunition. Armed police moved in immediately after the exchange. At the time of his arrest, he was carrying his employee card for Tesco, where he had worked part-time.

Authorities first became concerned in the summer of 2023 as Coleman grew increasingly active in online extreme right-wing forums. The investigation revealed he had been radicalized from the age of 14, consuming neo-Nazi material and idolizing figures including Adolf Hitler and Thomas Mair, who murdered Member of Parliament Jo Cox in 2016.

A search of his family home uncovered extensive evidence of his extremist ideology. Police found a rock with a swastika, a...