Two men who produced a podcast series to incite violence against ethnic minorities have been found guilty of terrorism offences.
Christopher Gibbons and Tyrone Patten-Walsh were hosts of a neo-Nazi online podcast, where the pair aired their Islamophobic, racist, and misogynistic views.
At times, they actively encouraged their listeners to engage in acts of terrorist violence. The podcast amassed close to 1,000 subscribers, with the content being viewed over 152,000 times.
The pair glorified Brenton Tarrant, the terrorist who killed 51 Muslims at two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand.
They also endorsed the murder of Labour MP Jo Cox, who was killed by a white supremacist, and said Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s son was an ‘abomination that should be put down’.
During the investigation, it was discovered that Gibbons had set up an online library housing many extremist right-wing texts and related material.
Investigators evaluated the online library and podcast content and determined that specific materials breached terrorism legislation.
They were arrested in May 2021 and charged on August 16 of that year.
Both men faced trial on eight counts of encouraging acts of terrorism, each related to a different podcast episode.
Gibbons also faced trial on two counts of disseminating terrorist publications.
Following a trial at Kingston Crown Court, they were both found guilty of encouraging acts of terrorism.
Advocating terrorist acts
“Gibbons and Patten-Walsh thought that the fact they were airing their hateful views and advocating terrorist acts in plain sight, on a radio and podcast platform, somehow gave them some legitimacy and meant they wouldn’t face any consequences,” said Commander Dominic Murphy, who leads the Met’s Counter Terrorism Command.
“They were wrong, and both our investigation and a jury has found that they sought to encourage terrorism in how they expressed their abhorrent extreme right-wing views.
“During the course of the investigation, detectives reviewed hundreds of hours of material, and the result of their work was the compelling case that was presented at court which has resulted in their convictions.”
Officers discovered 21 episodes of the podcast produced by the pair.
Gibbons kept a neo-Nazi online library containing over 500 videos of extreme right-wing speeches and propaganda documents.
The Metropolitan Police’s specialist Counter Terrorism Internet Referral Unit (CTIRU) analysed the videos and files, determining that they breached terrorism legislation.
Officers found seven videos and an additional document containing extremist views and specific imagery, rhetoric, or information that actively encouraged others to commit terrorist acts.
Image: Met Police
