Surrey man who ran far-right chat groups jailed

Michael Joseph Ian Nugent, 38, of Ashford, used different “extremist” personas to express his hatred for ethnic minorities on the Telegram messaging service, as well as being the administrator of several channels.

Kingston Crown Court heard that Nugent claimed “terrorism was the only way out,” and had posted videos on the channels celebrating the 2019 Christchurch mosque attacks in New Zealand, which he described as a “game-changer”.

He later unwittingly sent copies of manuals for the creation of bombs and other firearms to undercover police officers.

See more: Surrey man who ran far-right chat groups showed members how to make bombs

Nugent, of Parkland Grove, pleaded guilty to five counts of dissemination of terrorist publications and 11 counts of possession of information likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism in May of this year.

He was sentenced to a total of 54 months in prison on Wednesday, made up of a 42-month custodial term with a one-year extension.

Credit: Met Police

He must serve two thirds of the sentence before being considered for release.

Kate Wilkinson, prosecuting, said material recovered at Nugent’s home showed him to “have long held an extreme right-wing mindset”.

“Through his online activity, this defendant has knowingly been encouraging extreme right-wing terrorism,” she said.

The court heard extracts from Nugent’s personal diary in which he expressed desires to have ethnic minorities “sent home” and “sterilised”.

“We are being genocided in our own homes and our own country,” read one extract.

“Terrorism is the only way out of it.”

Ms Wilkinson said that in September 2019 Nugent had converted one of his Telegram groups to become a “supergroup,” meaning up to 200,000 members could access the content.

“This channel attracted and became a safe haven for anyone who wished to post messages expressing and encouraging extreme racial hatred and violence towards black people,” she said.

The court heard that Nugent had shared a video which “glorified the horrific terrorist attack” in which 51 worshippers were killed at two mosques in New Zealand on March 15 2020 – the anniversary of the attacks.

Ms Wilkinson said Nugent owned a copy the manifesto written by Brenton Tarrant, the white supremacist behind the atrocity.

“I understand why Tarrant did what he did, it’s just sad that it’s come to this,” Nugent wrote on Telegram.

“What he did was a game-changer.”

Following his online activity, police deployed an undercover officer, with whom Nugent unwittingly shared PDF documents with instructions on bomb making and other firearms manuals.

“It is plain from the frequency of the defendant’s messaging and what he sent to the undercover officer that he had a wealth of extremist material in his possession that he was willing to provide widely to the group or directly upon request,” said Ms Wilkinson.

Judge Peter Lodder QC agreed that Nugent had “knowingly encouraged right wing terrorism”.

Sentencing him, he said: “You posted toxic offensive material to websites and administered groups which were dedicated to violent racist, anti-Semitic, and neo-Nazi ideology.

“You used your channel as a safe haven to post messages expressing and encouraging extreme racial hatred and violence towards black people, and in setting up this channel you provided others with access to terrorist publications and encouraged terrorist acts.

“Whatever your mental health at the time, no-one concludes that you weren’t aware of what you were doing.”