How MI5 foiled a Tesco worker's plan for mass gun attack

Key developments are emerging from the global stage. How MI5 foiled a Tesco worker's plan for mass gun attack 4 hours ago Share Save Add as preferred on Google Lewis Adams Essex Met Police Alfie Coleman immersed himself in extreme far-right material online When Alfie Coleman collected a gun and 188 rounds of ammunition from the boot of a Land Rover, his fantasy was within touching distance. To the outside world, he presented as a normal teenager who enjoyed gaming and worked at his local Tesco supermarket in Great Notley, Essex. But he was also a white supremacist who, behind the closed door of his bedroom, had been plotting to use explosives, knives and a gun to cause mass terror – which included targeting the home of the Lord Mayor of London.

Coleman has been convicted of preparing terrorist acts following a retrial at the Old Bailey, after jurors in his first trial failed to secure a verdict. How close did he come to executing his plan? 'Silent killing' One month into the UK's Covid-19 lockdown in 2020, Coleman, then 15, saved a document to his iPad.

The Details

It was a copy of a book written by an American neo-Nazi in the 1980s. While not illegal to own, it was the first in a series of texts that appeared to radicalise the teenager. Met Police Police found an air rifle inside Coleman's bedroom By November 2021, Coleman possessed 10 illegal documents of terrorist material.

They included guides to explosives and "silent killing", one of which featured a paragraph on how to use a garrote. Meanwhile, Coleman was retreating deeper into his bedroom, cutting contact with his family and friends in self-imposed isolation accelerated by the pandemic. But online, he was much more forthcoming.

" a 17-year-old proud white European," he wrote in an email, applying to join white supremacist movement Patriotic Alternative in July 2021. He told the far-right group he "would like to start participating in activism" and attached a photograph to prove his white ethnicity. Met Police Coleman sent this selfie to Patriotic Alternative as part of his application to join After 11 further months of research, Coleman began the first draft of his plan for a terror attack.

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Writing in the notes section of his phone, he entitled it "Collapse" and identified his target: the "Mayor of London house" . It outlined the recipe for an explosive and concluded with a list of "weapons I can get easily", listing knives and crossbows. A week on – the day before his 18th birthday – Coleman researched "most advanced weapons used by terrorists".

Met Police Five knives were recovered from Coleman after his arrest Further notes, discovered by police after his arrest, showed his mentality at the time. In one called "The List", he identified people police thought he may have intended to kill, including a Tesco colleague he deemed to be a "race traitor" for marrying a man who was not white. Another detailed a plan on how to hijack a plane.

Prosecutor Nicholas de la Poer KC told the jury Coleman was "seething with hatred on the inside".

The development has drawn wide international attention, with diplomatic circles watching closely.