Six year sentence for man who shared 'appalling' right wing material

Anthony Barraclough, of east London, has been jailed for six years for terrorism and public order offences after sharing posts promoting extreme right-wing views over a messaging app. The sentence was announced at Kingston Crown Court on Friday, 10 June. Between November 2020 and February 2021, Barraclough, 40, posted content which showed his hatred for people from ethnic minorities, including a political text and hate speech recording promoting white supremacist views and advocating terrorist violence, as well as videos of black people being racially abused. One video referred to George Floyd. The material was reviewed by the Counter Terrorism Internet Referral Unit (CTIRU) and found in breach of terrorism legislation. Barraclough was subsequently arrested on 25 February 2021. Upon searching his home, officers found a black “Celtic Cross” flag – a symbol commonly used by European neo-Nazis. Appearing at Kingston Crown Court on 6 May, Barraclough admitted to: Three counts of dissemination of a terrorist publication (contrary to section 2(1) of the Terrorism Act 2006); Six counts of distributing written material to incite racial hatred (contrary to section 19(1) of the Public Order Act 1986), and; One count of distributing a recording to incite racial hatred (contrary to section 21(1) of the Public Order Act 1986); Detective Chief Superintendent Dominic Murphy of the Met’s Counter Terrorism Command, said: “Barraclough posted appalling racist material online, with the intention of encouraging others to adopt his extremist views and hatred of black people. “This kind of online activity is poisonous and dangerous – it is not harmless idle talk, and it often has serious real-world consequences. “Officers acted quickly to identify the offending content, and investigate and arrest the person posting it.”