Three Nazi-loving extremists have been sentenced to a combined 29 years in prison after being convicted of planning an act of terrorism and a string of terrorism and firearms offences.
Brogan Stewart, 25, of Tingley, Leeds; Marco Pitzettu, 26, of Mickleover, Derby; and Christopher Ringrose, 35, of Cannock, Staffordshire, were jailed at Sheffield Crown Court.
Stewart received an 11-year sentence, Ringrose 10 years, and Pitzettu eight years.
The trio were found guilty in May 2025 following a nine-week trial.
The court heard the men had formed a self-styled militant group — calling itself “Einsatz 14” — in January 2024. Stewart styled himself the group’s “Führer.”
They used encrypted online spaces as an echo chamber in which they traded racist abuse, glorified mass murderers and encouraged violence.
Prosecutors told jurors the group had idolised the Nazi regime, prepared for what they described as an inevitable “race war”, and were discussing attacking mosques and synagogues.
The group planned an attack on an Islamic Education Centre in Leeds before they were arrested by police.
Stewart was recorded telling the group: “Hitler did more for his people than any politician.” Prosecutors also said Stewart discussed torturing a Muslim community leader using an “information extraction kit” in conversations with an undercover officer.
“Hate towards black and other non-white races, especially Muslim”
Jurors heard how the defendants sourced body armour, ration packs and a large cache of weapons as part of their preparations. Officers seized more than 200 weapons from the men’s addresses, together with riot gear, body armour and rations. The items included machetes, hunting knives, swords and crossbows.
The Al-Amin Islamic Education Centre in Leeds featured heavily in their plans. Evidence showed them rehearsing getaway plans after an attack.
The judge, Honourable Mrs Justice Cutts DBE, said: “All three of you adhere to an extreme right-wing ideology. I say adhere in the present tense as it is clear from the pre-sentence report prepared for each of you that remains the case notwithstanding your conviction of these serious offences. As Dr Allen, an expert on hate and the extreme right wing, said during the trial, those who are within the extreme right wing do not want to work within the democratic process of this country but to use any means necessary, including violence, to bring about change. That was, and in my view remains, your mindset.”
“Your thoughts, beliefs and on occasion actions were all laid bare in a timeline prepared by the prosecution which formed the lion’s share of the evidence at trial. That timeline ran to 374 pages. Those pages were filled with hate towards black and other non-white races, especially Muslim people and immigrants; with ideas of white supremacy and racial purity together with a belief that there must soon be a race war between the white race on the one hand and other races on the other, with anti-government rhetoric and with the glorification and admiration of the policies and actions of Hitler and the German Nazi party including antisemitism and of mass killers who had targeted black or Muslim communities.”
She added that a “terrorist attack was likely in the not too distant future. Your preparations had reached the point of identifying a target, drawing a route of how to approach it, and discussions about how you were going to meet and get there.”
Image credit: Counter Terrorism Police
