A white nationalist from Fife who regarded Christchurch mosque mass murderer Brenton Tarrant as a “hero” is facing a lengthy prison sentence for terrorism offences.
Sam Imrie,24, was arrested after detectives discovered in July 2019 he had posted messages on social media that he was planning to attack Fife Islamic Centre in Glenrothes.
The High Court in Edinburgh heard police who searched his home in Glenrothes also made a series of horrifying discoveries.
Detectives discovered Imrie had acquired a terrifying arsenal of weapons and a “manifesto” entitled the “Great Replacement” by far right terrorist Tarrant, who murdered 51 people in his 2019 attacks.
They also recovered a manifesto written by Anders Breivik, another fascist who slaughtered 77 people in attacks in Norway in 2011.
Detectives also discovered computer equipment containing thousands of images glorifying far right terrorism attacks and nazi ideology.
They found he possessed copies of Adolf Hitler’s work Mein Kampf, indecent images of child abuse material and extreme pornography.
Imrie also possessed copies of the video which Tarrant had made of himself carrying out the shootings.
He was caught after officers in the Metropolitan Police tipped off Police Scotland counterparts.
Prison warning
Imrie, who denied any wrongdoing, was convicted of two charges of breaching the terrorism act, wilful fire raising, possessing child and ‘extreme’ pornography and drink driving.
Moments after prosecutor Lisa Gillespie QC said the Crown were considering seeking a Serious Crime Prevention Order against Imrie, Lord Mulholland remanded the first offender in custody.
The judge ordered a background report but warned Imrie: “Be under no illusion – you have been convicted of very serious offences including gathering information about terrorism and encouraging terrorism, child pornography and extreme pornography.
“You will not be surprised to know that you will be receiving a sentence of some length.”
Online boasting led to downfall
Police swooped after Imrie was captured on CCTV at the Islamic Centre, trying its door.
The Metropolitan Police in London had infiltrated the “FashWave Artists” group on Telegram, a controversial instant messaging app, on which Imrie had posted.
Glorying in far right ideology, he had boasted of how he would commit a terror attack in his home town.
Imrie was taken into custody by police in early July 2019 and officers carried out a forensic search of his property.
They found “an arsenal” of weapons in the bedroom of his Colliston Avenue home.
His computer equipment was also seized and extreme pornographic material – including an images featuring a corpses – was recovered.
He admitted in court he had downloaded material.
Detectives recovered items including an axe, nun-chucks, knife, hammer, rife scope and a wooden handled lock knife.
In his Ford Fiesta, they found a can containing 1.65 litres of petrol and another knife.
His mum Joyce, 50, told jurors a police armed response unit swooped on their home in the early hours of the morning.
She said: “I was in a heightened state of shock.
“Guns were pointed to our head. We were in our underwear and were made homeless.
“I didn’t know it was a SWAT team. I thought we were going to be slaughtered by a bunch of maniacs.”
Mrs Imrie told the court that Sam said: “Aw mum, I’ve done something stupid.
“I’ve pretended to set a mosque on fire”.
“I think my reaction was something along the lines of ‘Jesus f*****g Christ.”
Right wing follower
Mrs Imrie said her son – who became a loner after a brutal assault in which he was “left for dead” – was “infatuated” with Hitler.
His computer contained images of the dictator and mocked-up pictures of pop star Taylor Swift with swastika glasses.
Anti-SNP messages were posted, stating he wanted Nicola Sturgeon “to die” because of the party’s immigration policies.
The trial heard Imrie took to controversial messaging app Telegram to chat to far right sympathisers and was in awe of mass murderers Anders Breivik and Brenton Tarrant.
During the racially-fuelled chats, he said he was going to stream a terrorism act and he posted images of his town Islamic centre and a video bearing similarities to that posted by Tarrant before his 2019 killing spree in Christchurch, New Zealand.
A later video showed him burning something and a jerry can of petrol.
However, Imrie hadn’t set fire to the mosque but the abandoned Strathore Lodge in Thornton, nearby.
Imrie insisted in court he had not been serious about committing an act of terrorism.
He added: “My life is destroyed forever because of this.”
However, prosecutor Lisa Gillespie said he was “steeped” in right wing ideology and his own statements “revealed his extreme hatred of ethnic groups and Muslims in particular”.
Jurors returned guilty verdicts and he faces a lengthy prison sentence.
Police reaction
Following his conviction, Police Scotland ACC Pat Campbell said: “Sam Imrie was a socially-isolated-individual who displayed hateful intentions and the potential consequences of his actions do not bear thinking about.
“It should be stressed that cases such as Imrie’s are rare in Scotland and our officers remain absolutely committed to working with our partners to protect our communities.
“I want to take this opportunity to appeal directly to the public that if you become aware of anyone, including a family member or friend, displaying extremist views, or are concerned that they could be radicalised or involved in extremist or terrorist activity not to hesitate to contact the police.
“Advice is available at the ACT Early Counter Terrorism Policing website and anyone with concerns should contact Police Scotland or the confidential anti-terrorist hotline 0800 789 321.”
