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Son of Counter Terrorism Officer Arrested with Machete, Nazi Materials Gets 4 Year Prison Sentence

The son of a counter-terrorism officer who became a one-man 'propaganda machine' for a neo-Nazi group calling for the death of a chief constable was jailed for four years yesterday.

Luke Hunter was described as a white supremacist 'influencer', promoting racial hatred and mass murder online to hundreds of followers.

The 23-year-old, whose father was a former Scotland Yard counter-terrorism officer, was affiliated with a now banned terrorist organisation called the Feuerkrieg Division (FKD).

Hunter produced video propaganda for the FKD including a film containing a death threat to the chief constable of West Midlands Police Dave Thompson.

Using an alias, he operated on several online platforms – including his own website, podcast and a channel on the Telegram messaging application – to proclaim that the 'eradication' of Jewish people was a 'moral and racial duty'.

On his Telegram channel, which had more than 1,000 subscribers, Hitler-obsessed Hunter posted violent neo-Nazi imagery and glorified terrorist acts including the murder of 51 Muslim worshippers in Christchurch, New Zealand.

When police raided his home in Newcastle last year they seized a large number of white supremacist texts, military training manuals and guides on surveillance, guerrilla warfare, weapons and explosives.

Officers also recovered Nazi memorabilia and a machete from his bedroom.

His media devices contained thousands of extreme Right-wing documents, videos and audio files, in addition to the manifestos of previous mass murderers and recordings of himself expressing his warped views.

Described by prosecutors as a 'propaganda machine', he was jailed at Leeds Crown Court yesterday for four years and two months after admitting seven charges of encouraging terrorism and disseminating terrorist publications.

Detective Chief Superintendent Martin Snowden, head of Counter Terrorism Policing North East, said: 'Luke Hunter represents a threat to our society, not simply because of his mindset but because of the considerable lengths he was prepared to go to in order to recruit and enable others in support of his cause.'