LONDON: A British teenager who praised the killer of three young girls at a Taylor Swift-themed dance event and said he planned to bomb British rock band Oasis’ reunion concert was sentenced to detention on Friday for possession of an Al-Qaeda manual.
McKenzie Morgan, 18, was arrested at his home in Wales after sending messages on social media platform Snapchat in which he praised Axel Rudakubana, who murdered three girls and stabbed 10 others in July 2024, prosecutor Corinne Bramwell said.
Morgan told a psychiatric nurse on the morning of his arrest in June that he “planned to commit a Rudakubana-style terrorist attack” and had been researching how to stab people, Bramwell told Morgan’s sentencing hearing at London’s Old Bailey court.
The teenager twice tried to buy a 15-centimeter (6-inch) kitchen knife from Amazon, searched online for local playgrounds and a youth dance academy and put the academy on a document on his mobile phone entitled “places to attack,” Bramwell added.
She said Morgan later told another Snapchat user that he planned to bomb the Oasis concert in Cardiff last July 4, the band’s first gig of their comeback tour, and claimed to have tried to make the deadly poison ricin.
He was arrested on June 2 and a 188-page Al-Qaeda training manual was found on one of his electronic devices. Morgan pleaded guilty to a single count of possession of information likely to be of use to a person engaged in terrorism.
Morgan accepted having saved the Al-Qaeda manual and reading it, but told police he had no intention to commit an attack and simply intended to shock others with his messages.
He has been diagnosed with autism and two psychiatrists assessed Morgan as being vulnerable to being groomed or radicalized online, Bramwell told the court.
Judge Sarah Whitehouse sentenced Morgan to 14 months’ detention in a young offenders’ institution.
UK teenager who praised Southport murderer jailed for possessing Al-Qaeda manual
https://arab.news/zs8v7
UK teenager who praised Southport murderer jailed for possessing Al-Qaeda manual
- Morgan told a psychiatric nurse on the morning of his arrest in June that he “planned to commit a Rudakubana-style terrorist attack“
- The teenager twice tried to buy a 15-centimeter kitchen knife from Amazon
Venezuela aims to boost oil output but sanctions stand in the way, VP says
- Sanchez called the recent capture of Nicolas Maduro a “dark day” for the country
DUBAI: Venezuela’s Vice President for Economy Calixto Ortega Sanchez said on Wednesday that his country needed vast foreign investment and sanctions relief to tap its huge oil reserves and restart its ailing economy.
“We know that the reference for Venezuela is that (it is) the country with the biggest oil reserves, and we want to stop being known for this, and we want to be known as one of the countries with the highest production levels,” Sanchez said.
Responding to questions by American journalist Tucker Carlson, Sanchez called the recent capture of Nicolas Maduro a “dark day” for the country but said Venezuela was working to reestablish a relationship with the US, which he described as a “natural partner” for the country.
“The Venezuelan people and authorities have shown that they are ready to peacefully move forward and to build opportunities,” he said during a session at the World Government Summit.
Sanchez, who headed Venezuela’s central bank, said the most pertinent issue facing his country is continued US sanctions.
Despite failing to result in regime change, the sanctions had effectively stifled the economy from growing, he added.
He said the Venezuelan government was now working to reform its laws to allow foreign investment and hoped the US would ease sanctions to aid their work.
“The first decisions that interim President Rodriguez took was to go to the National Assembly and ask for reform to the hydrocarbon law … this law will allow international investors to go to Venezuela with favorable conditions, with legal assurance of their investments,” he added.
“The economy is ready for investment. The economy is ready for the private sector; it is ready to build up a better future for the Venezuelan people.”
Sanchez played down inferences by Carlson that his government had been taken over, insisting that the regime still held authority in the country. He said the country had set up two funds to receive money from oil production that would fund better welfare and social conditions for Venezuelans.
“Allow us to have access to our own assets … we don’t have access to our own money,” he added.
“If you allow us to function like a regular country, Venezuela will show extraordinary improvement and growth.”
