Huge rise in Brit teens sharing extreme material online - counter-terror chief

03 August 2023 , 14:12

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Head of counter-terrorism policing Matt Jukes said the alarming rise is a “really worrying trend" (Image: PA)

Counter-terror police have warned teenagers sharing extremist online content risk being handed a jail sentence without even leaving their bedrooms.

Shocking figures reveal under-18’s represent 14% of terror-related arrests in the UK, a major rise since 2019-2020 when the figure was just five per cent.

Police say children have even been downloading instructions for making 3D printed firearms and looking up how to buy chemicals and ways of spotting potential targets. The record for youngsters under 18 years-old was a year ago when the figure was the highest-ever at 15% of all suspected terrorism arrests.

Head of UK Counter Terror Policing Matt Jukes said the alarming rise in the number of extremist teenagers since 2019 is a “really worrying trend.” He said his officers were seeing more online hatred spill over into "real threats of violence on the streets".

Young people have been sharing instructions online for how to make 3D-printed guns (file photo) (PA)

As many as 24 people under 18 were arrested for terror-related activity in the year to March 2023, down from 29 in the previous 12 months. The overall number of terror arrests in the UK has been on a downward path in recent years, dropping from a record 447 in 2017/18 to 169 in 2022/23.

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But Mr Jukes told the BBC: "The really remarkable thing is now that literally, you can find yourself with a prison sentence not having left that bedroom, because of encouraging, inciting, sharing information, downloading bomb instructions and encouraging other people to take part in acts of violence. And sadly we're seeing more of this translate into real threats of violence on the streets."

He added that counter terrorism officers have seen young people downloading instructions for 3D printed firearms, buying chemicals online and the reconnaissance of potential targets. Mr Jukes said: "We know that the driving threat here is online but we also can see in our casework that for younger people than ever before, that's translating into the prospect of them actually carrying out acts of violence."

He said the trend was a "real concern" and a "contagion", citing the case of Daniel Harris, 19, from Derbyshire, who was convicted over videos he had posted online, which were then shared by a man who carried out an attack in Buffalo, New York. Payton Gendron posted a video in May last year showing him carrying out an attack at Tops supermarket in the US city, leaving 10 dead.

Mr Jukes told the BBC: "But it's one in five of the arrests we make now involve someone under 18, and more of them involving under 25s, so this is a new and emerging threat, which should concern us all and certainly should concern us in respect to the online lives of our communities."

Chris Hughes