Neo-Nazi who made explosives in garden shed jailed

A 33-year-old neo-Nazi who set up a chemical laboratory and made explosives in a garden shed has been jailed for three years and nine months.

Unemployed heroin user Harry Whittaker, from Caddington in Bedfordshire, was found guilty of two counts of making explosive substances, and two of possessing explosive substances, at his trial at the Old Bailey in October.

He had already pleaded guilty to charges of possessing a round of ammunition and potassium cyanide.

The judge described him as a highly intelligent and articulate individual, and he did not accept that Whittaker's autism had an impact on his ability to determine right from wrong.

The court heard Whittaker had been conducting experiments in a shed in the garden of the house he shared with his mother.

Paramedics were called when Whittaker had an allergic reaction to one of his experiments and went into anaphylactic shock.

Police were informed and disposal experts later carried out controlled explosions on white phosphorus - a chemical used in incendiary devices.

During his trial, Whittaker attempted to depict himself as a "nerd" who was simply enthusiastic about chemistry.

He told the jury he had been attempting to collect all the elements in the periodic table and described himself as a "mad scientist" who had acquired many of the chemicals he used from the online auction site eBay.

Whittaker told police he was "astounded" to be arrested and claimed he had no problem with anyone regardless of their creed or colour.

"Obviously, I'm not trying to take over the world, I'm just doing chemistry," he said.

But the court also heard about racist messages he exchanged on WhatsApp with his father.

"Muslims turn my stomach," he wrote.

And during a discussion about a mosque in nearby Luton, he discussed getting a tank and "driving it into that mosque on Friday afternoon and turning them into mincemeat".

Police found the burned-out remains of a device labelled "...for use on Jews only" and "throw at swarm of Jews" and discovered another container labelled as "Zyklon-B" - the name of the substance used in the gas chambers of Nazi death camps during World War Two.

At the sentencing, prosecutor Emily Dummett accepted Whittaker did not plan to do any harm with his explosives, but claimed there was a risk to his neighbours and property.

She revealed a picture of Hitler and a Nazi flag had been found on his bedroom wall, as well as notebooks with antisemitic writings and drawings.

A syringe and a wrap of heroin were also found in his room.

The court heard messages to other members of his family revealed Whittaker to be a Holocaust denier.

In a text to his brother, he said he hoped the far-right campaigner Tommy Robinson would "lead us all into a civil war" and "kick out" people of Asian heritage.

Mitigating, Polly Dyer said her client had possessed the majority of the explosive substances for years, that they were of "low level" and there was no evidence that the experiments, which were "for fun", would be used in any harmful action.

She said he had been held in solitary confinement while on remand in Belmarsh jail and showed the court a picture of Beethoven he had drawn while in his cell.

When sentencing, Judge Simon Mayo said that while the evidence of racism was relevant, he had to make sure the decisions he made were not driven by emotion.

He told Whittaker that he presented a significant risk of serious harm to the public.

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