Man sentenced for possession of terrorist documents

A man from Aldershot has been sentenced to 18 months' imprisonment, suspended for two years, after being found in possession of terrorism documents.

Charles Cannon was found to have a number of documents and images on his laptop and phone after he was stopped at Luton Airport on 21 August 2020.

Head of CTPSE, Detective Chief Superintendent Olly Wright: “It is important to recognise that having downloaded and been in possession of documents of this nature, regardless of which extreme ideology, a terrorism crime has been committed. Ignorance of this fact is not an excuse.

“It was found by a jury that Cannon read and downloaded some of these documents which contained extreme right-wing content, as determined by experts.”

After a trial in November, the 22-year-old was convicted of seven counts of possession of documents containing information of a kind likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism, contrary to Section 58 of the Terrorism Act 2000. The content included homemade explosive manuals.

DCS Wright continued: “His mindset was also clear from his own words online suggesting he had an interest in Nazism which was compounded by Nazi memorabilia found in his possession.

“Cannon became obsessed with the subject matter and had the information got into the wrong hands, it could have been useful to someone with terrorist intent.

“I am thankful for the hard work of the unit which has secured this conviction and led to this sentence today.”