Phone mast plotter 'no longer a risk to the public'

A conspiracy theorist who plotted to attack phone masts as part of a plan to bring down the government does not present a serious risk to the public, a parole hearing has been told.

Oliver Lewin was sentenced in January 2023 to six and a half years in prison after being found guilty of preparing terrorist acts.

The 41-year-old former telecoms engineer, from Coalville, Leicestershire, spread ideas online that the UK government was complicit in a high-level conspiracy originating from Israel.

Giving evidence to the hearing on Thursday, Lewin's prison offender manager said he would recommend Lewin is released as he did not believe he presented a serious risk of harm to the public.

At his trial in 2023, Judge Paul Farrer KC heard Lewin was "deeply opposed" to the UK government.

Annabel Darlow KC, prosecuting, told the court Lewin believed the government was "dominated by a Jewish elite who took orders from Israel".

He was also sceptical about the Covid pandemic and believed the vaccine was being used to kill white people across Europe.

Lewin was questioned by a panel at the hearing, which he requested was held in public.

Sentencing Lewin in 2023, the judge had concluded he had "expressed hostility towards Jewish people" in messages he had sent.

However, the prisoner told his parole hearing he now felt "a healthy amount of respect" for Jewish people.

"I saw the October 7 attacks and saw this retaliation and I couldn't for the life of me decide which way it was," Lewin told the hearing, which is taking place in a prison and being video-streamed to a room at the International Dispute Resolution Centre in central London.

"They [Hamas] shouldn't have done that and they [Israel] are overreacting to it. I couldn't find myself in favour of one or the other," Lewin said.

He told the hearing he had read the Torah and the Old Testament and found his beliefs align closer to Judaism.

"The existence [of Israel] as a country has always been a struggle, it's always been hard for them, and there is a bit of sympathy there," he said.

"Once you actually understand the wider story, I can't help but feel for them. Not admiration but certainly a healthy amount of respect."

Lewin, who is autistic, told the panel he suffered discrimination in prison because of his autism "all the time".

"Exploitation in this place is rife," he said.

Lewin served more than 500 days in custody before he was convicted and could be eligible for release after serving two-thirds of his custodial sentence by 30 December.

"I think for quite a chunk of his adult life, he showed himself to be someone aware of the law, with an ability to comply with the law," the prison offender manager told the hearing.

Asked whether Lewin holds antisemitic views, the prison offender manager said he did not believe he did, but said he had used discriminatory language in the past.

The panel will hear more evidence in private next week and issue its decision 14 days after the final oral hearing.

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