Man convicted of attempted murder after terrorist incident

A man has been found guilty of attempted murder after an attack on an Eritrean man in April.

Callum Parslow was arrested after attacking an Eritrean man at a hotel in Worcester.

The court heard how Parslow had planned the attack for weeks, researching hotels housing asylum seekers and planning the journey from his house. He had bought a knife from the US and wrote a manifesto, which he planned to publicise after the attack.

On 2 April, he took a taxi to a canal footpath, then walked along country lanes before reaching rural hotel, The Pear Tree Inn.

At the time of the attack, the hotel was undergoing renovations and was not housing any asylum seekers. The victim was not staying at the hotel, but was eating there after the hotel manager offered him lunch.

Parslow entered the hotel and asked the victim where he was from, to which he replied Eritrea. The attacker went to the toilets and returned later to stab the man in the chest and hand.

The hotel manager and one of the builders took the victim to hospital and officers detained Parslow on the canal towpath.

Detectives searched his address and found weapons including an axe, a knife, and a baseball bat.

On his phone, police found images of Parslow giving a Nazi salute, Nazi symbols, right wing propaganda and pictures of a tattoo on his arm of Adolf Hitler’s signature.

Detectives from Counter Terrorism Policing were called in when information was found on his phone which contained hate and extremism and an 'extreme right-wing terrorist manifesto'. The attack was declared a terrorist incident on Sunday 7 April by the acting Senior National Coordinator for Counter Terrorism Policing.

Head of Counter Terrorism Policing in the West Midlands, Detective Chief Superintendent Alison Hurst, said: “Parslow carried out a carefully planned attack with his extreme right-wing mindset targeting his victim based on his ethnicity.

“He intended to kill an asylum seeker and be arrested as a result because he was being evicted from his flat after leaving his job.

“Thankfully the victim was able to recover from his physical injuries although he still receives some treatment but he will have to live with the impact of this attack.”