Lab technician convicted of possessing terrorist documents

Charles Cannon was found guilty of having guides on making explosives and weapons.

Charles Cannon (Andrew Matthews/PA) (PA Archive)

A laboratory technician who collected documents on how to make homemade explosives and weapons has been convicted of seven terrorism offences.

Charles Cannon was convicted of the charges of possession of terrorist information following a trial at Winchester Crown Court.

The 22-year-old, of Aldershot, Hampshire, will be sentenced on February 2 2024.

Ben Isaacs, prosecuting, told the trial that Cannon was stopped at Luton airport under terrorism regulations in August 2020 and a search of his phone found the guide on making explosives.

He said that further searches of Cannon’s devices and his computer at his home uncovered the other documents as well as racist, antisemitic and misogynistic messages on social media.

The documents found on his computer included guides on homemade explosives, “unconventional warfare devices and techniques”, and “booby traps”.

Mr Isaacs said Cannon, who has autism, posted an image on social media of people performing a Nazi salute in front of a flag with a swastika and skull on it.

He said Cannon also posted a message on Telegram saying: “Be like Pope Urban II and call for a racial holy war,” as well as other racist, antisemitic and anti-Muslim posts.

And in a discussion about an attack on asylum seekers in Glasgow, Mr Isaacs said that “Mr Cannon chimes in with ‘That feeling when I wanted to stab people to’. He is talking enthusiastically about stabbing asylum seekers and he wanted to do the same.”

He added that a photo of the New Zealand mass-killer Brenton Tarrant was found on his devices and a Nazi plaque and books on fascism and white supremacy were found at his home.

Mr Isaacs said: “Mr Cannon is a young man with extreme and disturbing political views, he holds far-right beliefs, sympathises with Naziism, fascism, he has offensive things to say about black people, Jews, gay people, women generally and anyone who does not fit in with his extreme view of the world.”

He added: “Whatever his intention, he is exactly the sort of radicalised young man whose hands you would not want these offending documents to fall into.”

Giving evidence, Cannon said that he had downloaded the files as part of a cache of documents on a file-sharing website which were part of a collection created in the name of Uncle Fester – the pseudonym of Steve Preisler, who produced books on the manufacture of methamphetamine in the 1980s and was jailed for possession of the illegal drug.

He said he had wanted to research the production of the drug as part of his fixation on the show Breaking Bad, which tells the story of a teacher who starts making the drug to fund his cancer treatment.

Cannon added that he had not been interested in the homemade explosives document as well as other files that were part of the collection that he originally downloaded in 2014 when he was 13 years old.

Cannon admitted that he had previously held “vile and disgusting” views but his politics had changed under the influence of his Brazilian wife who he married a year ago.