A 23-year-old neo-Nazi ‘influencer’ caught with swastika-festooned memorabilia and a machete in his bedroom where he spread extremist hate online has been jailed for four years.
Luke Hunter, from Newcastle, used the name Death Cult Posting on an encrypted messaging app and was said to have a ‘significant online reach’, particularly among young people.
He used his popularity online to support a violent group called Feuerkrieg Division (FKD), of which membership is banned in the UK.
Prosecutors said Hunter openly supported FKD objectives and was ‘instrumental’ in maintaining its online footprint and gathering more followers.
Neo-Nazi influence Luke Hunter, 23, from Newcastle, was sentenced to four years in prison after police found he had been promoting a violent group and had a machete in his bedroom
During a police search, officers found a range of memorabila with swastikas on them and Hunter was found to be spreading extremist hate online
He produced a recruitment video for the group, which he made available to view and share, and his encrypted Telegram channel had more than 1,200 subscribers.
The recruitment video, called ‘Action Report’, was posted to his Telegram channel on October 1 last year and sent to a Telegram account called @Commander.
Hunter used postings on his channel, @deathcultposting, to encourage the killings of Jews, homosexuals and non-whites.
He also shared a video taken from a Facebook Live stream that Brenton Tarrant made of his murder of 52 people in two mosques in Christchurch in New Zealand.
A second video, which he shared on a Bitchute channel called ‘Arthur Albion’, was named ‘Saint Copeland’, about the neo-Nazi Soho nail bomber David Copeland, who killed three people, including a pregnant mother, in April 1999.
Hunter was sentenced at Leeds Crown Court to four years and two months in jail after admitting seven charges of encouraging terrorism and disseminating terrorist publications.
When police raided Hunter’s house they found a machete in his bedroom as well as other swastika-festooned memorabilia
Police have called on families to seek help if they are aware of young people being radicalised over Christmas, by accessing help on their Act Early website.
Det Chief Superintendent Martin Snowden, head of Counter-Terrorism Policing North East, said: ‘Hunter invested a lot of effort in maintaining his website, his online presence and his status among like-minded individuals.
‘He saw himself as an influencer and even sought to widen his following by speaking at a right-wing conference in the UK.
‘These actions are not simply the result of a young person seeking to explore and express their social or political views, Hunter promoted neo-Nazism to the widest possible audience.
‘Through his pleas, Hunter accepts he was responsible for the hateful posts on his accounts, posts which glorified terrorism, promoted killing techniques and encouraged the killing of Jews, non-white races and homosexuals.
‘Luke Hunter represents a threat to our society, not simply because of his mindset, but because of the considerable lengths he was prepared to go to in order to recruit and enable others in support of his cause.’
FKD was not proscribed at the time of Hunter’s arrest but was already advocating the use of violence to provoke a ‘race war’.
The international neo-Nazi organization promotes its white supremacist ideology online using social media platforms, largely targeting young people aged between 13 and 25 years old.
The UK banned the FKD earlier this year, making it an offence to be a member or demonstrate support for it. Pictured: An item recovered from Hunter’s bedroom
It was banned in the UK on July 17 this year making it an offence to be a member of the group or to demonstrate support for it.
Hunter was arrested last year as part of an investigation into right-wing terrorism by Counter-Terrorism Policing North East and Northumbria Police.
Searches of his home address revealed a library of white supremacist texts, military training manuals and guides on surveillance, guerrilla warfare, weapons and explosives.
Hunter’s media devices contained thousands of documents, videos and audio files with extreme right-wing material
He also had the manifestos of mass murderers, including Tarrant, and recordings of Hunter himself, expressing his views, described by police as ‘deeply disturbing.’
His online activity showed he was ‘persistent and prolific in his efforts to promote right wing terrorism, utilising a variety of platforms and accounts to spread his hateful ideology and encourage others to do the same,’ according to police.
He also created content and established his own website through which to disseminate his white supremacist, anti-Semitic and homophobic views.
Through this site he promoted violent right-wing propaganda, terrorist handbooks and instructional material.