A Scottish white supremacist who wrote that “the quickest way to someone's heart is with a high power 7.62mm round” was convicted of plotting a terror attack on an LGBTQ+ group and other hate-related charges on Monday, the BBC and other media reported.
Alan Edward, 54, of Falkirk some 25 miles west of Edinburgh, was convicted by a jury on four charges under the country’s Terrorism Act and other charges relating to anti-Semitism and Holocaust denial following an 11-day trial.
“Edward shared extreme racist and homophobic content online with the aim of stirring up hatred and spreading fear and alarm,” Detective Chief Superintendent David Ferry, head of Police Scotland’s Counter Terrorism Unit, said in a statement following the conviction.
Edward had a mix of neo-Nazi and white supremacist views that expressed hatred for non-white people and the LGBTQ+ community. Police say he was plotting an extremely violent act of terrorism when he was arrested. He idolized Adolf Hitler and gave a Nazi salute during his trial. A document found on his computer referred to Norwegian neo-Nazi Anders Breivik, who killed 77 people on July 22, 2011, as ‘Saint Anders.’
Edward idolized Adolf Hitler and Norwegian neo-Nazi mass murderer Anders Breivik (pictured) who killed 77 people on July 22, 2011OLE BERG-RUSTEN/NTB/AFP via Getty Images
When he was taken into custody in September of 2022, police found what they described as an “armory” of weapons including a crossbow with hunting tips for arrows, a samurai sword, multiple machetes, a stun gun, an air pistol, an SS-styled skull mask with goggles and respirator, hardened fighting gloves and brass knuckles, pellets, and ball bearings.
Edward had a social media following of almost 28,000 and once wrote that “the quickest way to someone’s heart is with a high power 7.62mm round.”
Edward often communicated with followers on the WhatsApp messaging platform, and his messages reflected his disturbing views and plans.
“They have been pushing their luck for years, now they will pay in blood,” Edward wrote about a local LGBTQ+ club in one message, the Herald of Scotland reported. “It’s time to kill.”
He also wrote, “It’s clearly time to hunt the f*gg*ts down and beat them.”
“We used to sterilize mental defectives,” he wrote of transgender people in another message. “We now just convince them they’re trans so they ask to be sterilized.”
Reflecting his racist views, Edwards called George Floyd a “Black animal” and a “n*gr* savage” and called Jewish people “satan’s filthy k*k*s” in other messages.
Police made clear they would not tolerate racist, homophobic, and violent extremists like Edwards to operate unchecked in Scotland.
“Promoting terrorism and extremism and sharing material that could endanger the public has no place in our society and Police Scotland will not hesitate to investigate this kind of behavior both on and off-line,” Ferry said.
Judge Fiona Tait set sentencing for Edwards on October 21 in the High Court in Edinburgh.
