An anti-Muslim neo-Nazi who planned to blow up mosques with home-made gunpowder could face life in prison.
Ian Forman who was obsessed with Hitler and extreme far-right ideology wanted work colleagues to nickname him “Adolf”, secretly made a bomb in his bedroom at his parents’ house, where he also kept an SS uniform.
The prospective terrorist who was a receptionist at a recycling factory, had made a list of mosques near his home in Merseyside which he called to as his “dreck ziel” – German phrase meaning “dirt target”.
The 42-year-old had learned how to make bombs on the internet, was condemned by a judge as “evil” after he was found guilty of planning acts of terrorism.
Kingston Crown Court heard how a list of targets found on Forman’s computer included the Wirral Islamic Centre and the Penny Lane Mosque in Liverpool.
Police were alerted when worried colleagues found out he had been researching how to access dangerous chemicals on the internet during work shifts.
Home-made bomb
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His parents’ home in Birkenhead was raided on June 6 last year, where officers found more than a kilogram of gunpowder and a home-made explosive device in a briefcase concealed in his bedroom cupboard.
Under his bed they found containers of sulphur, potassium nitrate and charcoal – the three components of gunpowder.
Crown prosecutor Annabel Darlow told the court: “Ian Forman is a deeply racist man who has fervently embraced extreme right-wing ideology.
“His ultimate goal was to create explosive devices that could be used as part of acts of terrorism against one of those sections of society who were different in race and religion to himself and represented the object of his hatred.”
Miss Darlow said Forman, a former admin worker at a Jobcentre, told the police he was using the chemicals to make fireworks.
But when police seized his computer and mobile phone, his emails and internet history unveiled his true motive.
Miss Darlow added: “They were not a random collection. They are chemicals which when mixed together create gunpowder.”
Forman was found guilty on one count of engaging in conduct for the preparation of terrorist acts and will be sentenced next month.
“Killing Muslims”
The jury was told that Forman became notorious at Recresco, a glass recycling plant, for his racist and extreme far-right views, and that he had boasted on Facebook about making a pilgrimage to Hitler’s WW2 headquarters in Germany in 2012.
In a text message to a friend he said he was making an explosive with nails and ball bearings, and added: “It might be destined for the Muslim centre in Birkenhead.”
In another, he said Norwegian mass murderer Anders Breivik was his “hero” and added: “Time to start blowing them up.”
He also made an Islamophobic video featuring pictures of people in Muslim dress and searched on YouTube for videos of “killing Muslims”.
Forman, who has a degree in German and Spanish from Liverpool John Moores University, is understood to have been operating alone as opposed to a group.
Judge Paul Dodgson said: “The defendant had, in my judgment, very extreme and evil thoughts – I think the word evil is appropriate.
“He had the intention of carrying those evil thoughts out.
“For his sentencing there must be a message sent out by the court that this behaviour is regarded with extreme gravity.”
