Alleged neo-Nazi terror plotter wanted to execute Asian boy because he was ‘angry about Christmas Covid restrictions’

Matthew Cronjager, 18, is also accused of planning for terror attacks with an online neo-Nazi group

The trial is taking place at London’s Old Bailey (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

An alleged neo-Nazi terror plotter has told a court he wanted to execute an Asian boy because he was angry over Christmas coronavirus restrictions.

Matthew Cronjager, 18, is accused of preparing acts of terrorism and running a social media channel that encouraged attacks.

He allegedly tried to pay someone to make a 3D gun and drew up plans for a weapons storage bunker to be used by the far-right group he was part of.

The Old Bailey heard that Mr Cronjager also said he “wanted to execute” a school friend after being told he had slept with white girls.

“I’ve found someone I want to execute,” he wrote in December. “He’s a sand n*****r that f**ked a white girl. In fact I think three of them.”

The messages, which were sent to an undercover police officer posing as a fellow neo-Nazi, showed Mr Cronjager discussing using a conventional shotgun, or manufacturing 3D-printed firearms for himself and “the rest of the lads”.

Giving evidence to the Old Bailey on Thursday, Mr Cronjager said he made the statements because he was angry.

Asked if that was because his friend was Asian and had slept with white girls, he replied: “That wasn’t the main source of my anger but that was the straw that broke the camel’s back, the [other source] was the change in government legislation that I wasn’t going to see people over Christmas.”

The defendant said he had wanted to spend Christmas with his girlfriend and was “upset” that he couldn’t because of a last-minute change by ministers.

The teenager told the jury that “in the moment” he wanted to kill the boy but would not have gone through with it.

He said: “In anger I thought I did [want to kill him], I wouldn’t say I actually did, I was venting my anger through that frame of ‘I’m going to kill him’.”

Prosecutor Alistair Richardson previously told the Old Bailey that Mr Cronjager held “fascist beliefs” and hated Jews, Muslims, non-white people and the LGBT+ community.

“He wanted to bring about his own revolution, based on his own racist ideology,” Mr Richardson told jurors.

“To that end, he sought to produce a firearm, using a 3D printer, he made plans for storage of firearms, in preparation for his violent acts, and he provided instructions and funds to others, in order to secure the manufacture of a firearm.”

The court heard that the storage bunker was to be used by a neo-Nazi group that Mr Cronjager was part of on the encrypted Telegram messaging app.

He told the court that he was the UK leader of the group, and that the international leader had asked him to find storage for a shipment of real firearms from Europe.

Mr Cronjager admitted drawing a plan for the bunker, including space for weapons, ammunition, clothes, food and water, but said no work had been started on it.

Asked if he wanted to use the items to attack black people, Asian people, Jewish people and the government, he replied: “They would have been used in that way if they had been used yes.”

The teenager said members of the neo-Nazi group discussed using the shipment of guns for terror attacks but that he did not want that to happen.

When asked about messages where he talked of wanting to “conduct at least one offensive action within two years”, Mr Cronjager said he was “just blowing hot air”. “None of this seemed real to me,” he added.

The teenager admitted being a neo-Nazi at the time but said he was trying to move away from his hateful beliefs and leave the group.

He told the court he had felt “sad, isolated, unwelcome and unhappy” when he started researching extreme right-wing material online, and wanted to feel “powerful and respected” within the groups he joined.

When he was arrested at his family home in Essex, he claimed he was “part of antifa” and had infiltrated the neo-Nazi group he led to destroy it.

Mr Cronjager admitted that was a lie on Thursday, telling the court: “It was a panicked statement and I would retract it if I could.”

The defendant, of Ingatestone in Essex, denies preparing acts of terrorism and disseminating terrorist publications that encouraged attacks through a “library” on the encrypted Telegram app.

He previously pleaded guilty to four separate offences of possessing information useful to a terrorist. The trial continues.