A neo-Nazi who compiled a kill list of workmates and customers at the Tesco where he worked, saved £3,500 from his part-time wages to buy a semi-automatic pistol and was planning what counter-terrorism officers believe would have been a mass shooting at mosques has been found guilty of preparing acts of terrorism after a retrial at the Old Bailey.
Alfie Coleman was 19 years old when MI5 undercover agents, who had spent months gaining his trust on encrypted messaging apps, arrested him in a dramatic sting operation in a Morrisons car park in Stratford on 29 September 2023. Footage of the arrest shows him dropping to his knees and lying flat on the ground as officers closed in seconds after he deposited cash in the footwell of a Land Rover Discovery and collected a holdall from the boot containing a deactivated Makarov semi-automatic pistol, five magazines and 200 rounds of ammunition.
The kill list found in Coleman’s possession named colleagues and shoppers at the supermarket he described as “race traitors” for having partners who were not white. One entry identified a checkout worker by the make, colour and registration of her car, a physical description including her hair colour, and the fact that her husband was of mixed race. Prosecutors said Coleman idolised Adolf Hitler and Thomas Mair, the man who murdered MP Jo Cox in 2016, and had identified London Mayor Sadiq Khan as a potential target in a written plan — though he mistakenly noted the address of the ceremonial Lord Mayor rather than the elected mayor.
His diaries, described by detective chief superintendent Helen Flanagan of the Metropolitan Police as “a key piece of evidence,” contained plans for a terrorist attack and a personal manifesto outlining his grievances and motivations. The writings were compared to those of Dylann Roof, who carried out the Charleston Church massacre, Norwegian mass murderer Anders Breivik and New Zealand mosque attacker Brenton Tarrant — all of whom Coleman referred to in his notes as “warriors.”
Coleman had come to the attention of MI5 in the summer of 2023 after becoming increasingly active in extreme right-wing online chat groups and inquiring about obtaining firearms. Undercover agents discussed supplying him with a Skorpion submachine gun and an AK47, as well as ammunition to be collected in northern France. He researched travel to France and, as DCS Flanagan noted, “rather ominously” searched the locations of mosques in the area. Officers believe he was planning to target those mosques. When he failed to travel as arranged on 6 September, agents arranged to sell him the Makarov instead. Police said he was in the “advanced stages of radicalisation” and attack planning, requiring immediate intervention to protect the public.
A search of his home uncovered a collection of knives, a bottle with a rag — consistent with a crude incendiary device — and a flag associated with the SS. In notes written inside prison during the legal proceedings, Coleman drew weapons and neo-Nazi symbols including a swastika, quoted cult leader Charles Manson and wrote: “Under no circumstances will I betray my race for less jail time.”
Coleman, now 21 and from Great Notley in Essex, had previously pleaded guilty to attempting to possess a prohibited firearm and ammunition, and to ten counts of possessing material useful to a person preparing terrorism. Those documents included the White Resistance Manual, The Terrorist Explosives Handbook and a publication titled 21 Techniques of Silent Killing. He denied planning an attack at his first trial, describing himself as embarrassed by his former views, and a jury failed to reach a verdict. The retrial concluded with a guilty verdict.
His barrister had described him as a “lonely teenager” who became isolated during the Covid-19 lockdowns, arguing that although he was obsessed with obtaining a gun, he would never have killed anyone.
Police found evidence of Coleman’s extremist interest stretching back to when he was 14, when he searched for the Ku Klux Klan online. DCS Flanagan confirmed there had been no prior police contact and no referral to Prevent before his radicalisation was identified by MI5. His parents, she said, had “absolutely no knowledge” of what their son had become. The case has highlighted the scale of the youth extremism problem in Britain — one in five of those arrested by counter-terrorism police are aged 17 or under, and approximately half of all referrals to Prevent now involve children.
