Man jailed for possession of terrorist documents

A man from Bradford has been jailed after admitting to possessing terrorist documents.

21-year-old Ondrej Sidelka pleaded guilty at Leeds Crown Court on April 11 to eight counts of possessing information likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism, contrary to Section 58 of the Terrorism Act 2000.

He has been sentenced to two years in prison with a further year on licence. He will also be subject to a Terrorism Notification Order for 10 years when he is released.

Sidelka was arrested in November 2022 for an unrelated incident and when his phone was downloaded, large quantity of racist, homophobic, anti-semitic and neo-Nazi material was found in his Google Drive and Dropbox storage accounts, along with several instruction manuals on how to manufacture firearms, explosives and poisons. He was subsequently arrested in May 2023, by officers from Counter Terrorism Policing North East.

Detective Chief Superintendent James Dunkerley, Head of Counter Terrorism Policing North East, said: “The shocking and disturbing racist material Sidelka downloaded, as well as his interest in extreme violence and manufacturing homemade firearms, show the threat he posed to the community.

“The efforts he made to disguise his true identity online, and to post opinions on social media which were not as extreme as those he held in private, indicate that he knew how unacceptable his views really were.

“Sidelka was 18 at the time he committed these offences. Young people are particularly vulnerable when it comes to being influenced by hateful and harmful ideologies online, and I would urge people to ACT Early and help us to stop young people being drawn into extremism.”