Auto Amazon Links: No products found. Blocked by captcha.
The head of counter terrorism policing in Wales has issued a warning to parents to be aware of the extremist content their children may be viewing online, as lone extremists who are influenced by such material pose one of the biggest risks to society. Assistant Chief Constable Wendy Gunney has highlighted the threat of self-initiated terrorism, in which individuals create their own ideas about radicalisation through material seen online. Gunney cited statistics from the Home Office, which show that of all the referrals made in relation to radicalisation to the Prevent programme during 2023-2024, 36% were related to individuals with some vulnerability but no specific ideology. The remaining referrals were 19% extreme right-wing, 13% Islamist and 2% relating to concerns about potential school massacres.
Gunney cited the recent case of Axel Rudakubana, who was sentenced to a minimum of 52 years behind bars for murdering three young girls in the town of Southport. Whilst Judge Martin Goose ruled that the act was not terrorism according to its legal definition, he still felt that the incident was equivalent in its seriousness to terrorist attacks. Earlier this week, Prime Minister Keir Starmer highlighted a new threat of “extreme violence carried out by loners, misfits, young men in their bedrooms.” Teenagers aged 15 and 16 are among those detained in Wales for terror offences, including possession of terrorist material and knives.
In an interview, Gunney stressed that although the ideology of some perpetrators is not distinct, parents should be aware that their children can create their own manufacturing ideas about extremist terrorism from their online activity. She advised that parents can no longer be complacent in monitoring their children’s online activity, as radicalisation can occur quietly and without warning. Acknowledging that intervening at the right moment can be difficult, Gunney urged parents to “be alive to the issues” and to step in before extremist material can influence their children’s thinking and lead to an act of terrorism.
Gunney’s warnings come after an initial review of the government’s anti-extremism Prevent programme found that it failed to recognise the danger posed by Rudakubana. The review found that he had been referred three times to the programme but was not flagged as a serious threat. The Home Secretary, Yvette Cooper, stated that too much emphasis had been placed on the absence of ideology in the case. Ms Gunney also highlighted that the case of Alex Hutton, from Swansea, highlighted the prevalence of self-initiated extremism, in which young individuals with violent tendencies view extreme content online before acting out their violent fantasies in real life. Hutton was jailed for more than five years after he pleaded guilty to terror offences and assault
Read the full article from The BBC here: Read More
Auto Amazon Links: No products found. Blocked by captcha.