A white nationalist from Fife who worshipped Christchurch mosque mass murderer Brenton Tarrant has failed in a bid to have his prison sentence for terrorism offences cut.
Sam Imrie, 24, was given a seven and a half year sentence last year.
He was arrested after detectives discovered in July 2019 he had been posted messages on social media that he was planning to attack Fife Islamic Centre in Glenrothes.
The High Court in Edinburgh heard how Imrie had acquired a terrifying arsenal of weapons which included a combat knife, nunchucks, an axe, a black handled knife, a hammer, a rife scope and a wooden handled lock knife.
Detectives also recovered a “manifesto” entitled the “Great Replacement” by far right terrorist Tarrant, who murdered 51 people in his March 2019 attacks in New Zealand.
They also found a manifesto written by Anders Breivik, another fascist who slaughtered 77 people in attacks in Norway in 2011.
Computer equipment containing thousands of images glorifying far right terrorism attacks and nazi ideology was seized in their raid on his family home in Glenrothes.
Some of the images referred to Tarrant and Breivik as “saints” and one mocked-up image was of pop star Taylor Swift with the lenses of her sunglasses doctored to included swastikas.
He possessed copies of Adolf Hitler’s work Mein Kampf, child abuse images and extreme porn which showed mutilated, dead women being subjected to sexual acts.
Imrie also possessed copies of the video which Tarrant had made of himself carrying out the shootings.
Traumatic childhood argument
On Friday, defence solicitor advocate Iain Paterson told appeal judges Lord Matthews and Lord Malcolm their colleague Lord Mulholland had not followed correct sentencing procedures when jailing Imrie, who claimed his actions were a joke.
Mr Paterson told the Court of Criminal Appeal if he had done so, Imrie would have received a lesser sentence.
He said his client had experienced “trauma” in his life and Lord Mulholland should have taken this into account.
“During his childhood, Mr Imrie experienced a fairly traumatic experience when he was assaulted and lost his teeth and stopped attending school.
“Thereafter, he continued to withdraw from life and became more isolated from his family and his friends.
“He would stay in his bedroom and spend his days looking at his computer and drinking alcohol.
“His background is one which has arisen from childhood trauma.”
However, the appeal judges concluded Lord Mulholland had acted correctly.
Lord Matthews said: “We are unable to detect any error in his approach.
“It cannot be said that the sentence imposed by the judge was excessive.
“The appeal must fail.”
‘Gore’ images
Imrie was caught after officers in the Metropolitan Police tipped off Police Scotland counterparts.
Detectives found CCTV footage of Imrie trying the door at the mosque before driving away.
A jury heard how armed police officers swooped on Imrie’s home at 2am and took him into custody.
Imrie admitted he had also driven to St Drostan’s cemetery in Markinch, Fife, and had set fire to foliage close to a gravestone.
The headstone was damaged as a consequence of the blaze.
Giving evidence to the court, Imrie also admitted downloading so called “gore” images of people being killed.
Imrie was also placed on the Sex Offenders Register for 10 years.
