A far-right extremist who said he wanted to kill Muslims until they were “globally extinct” has been jailed for two years after a counter-terrorism investigation into a torrent of racist and threatening material posted online.
Thomas Webster, 29, from Lapworth in Warwickshire, was sentenced at Warwick Crown Court after admitting 12 public order offences, including an offence of publishing threatening material intended to stir up religious hatred.
Webster, a member of the far-right group Patriotic Alternative, also admitted 10 counts of publishing written material intended to stir up racial hatred and a further offence relating to hatred on the grounds of sexual orientation.
He also advocated violence against Jewish and gay people and, in another post, said that if a migrant hotel were established on his road he would “prepare for murder and prison time.”
The Crown Prosecution Service said Webster repeatedly posted about violence against people of different races, religions and sexualities during a 12-month period while promoting white supremacist views. His material was published through multiple accounts on X and Substack, with some of his earlier accounts having already been closed by the platforms for breaching policies against hateful conduct and violent speech.
Counter-terror investigation
The investigation began after Webster appeared in the BBC Wales documentary Unmasked: Extreme Far Right, broadcast in January 2025.
Subscribe to our newsletter and stay updated on the latest news and updates from around the Muslim world!
An undercover BBC journalist had spent a year infiltrating Patriotic Alternative and secretly recorded Webster at two of the organisation’s events in 2024.
Information from the documentary was subsequently passed to Counter Terrorism Policing West Midlands, which began investigating Webster’s online activity.
Police eventually identified offending material across six social media accounts posted between September 2024 and September 2025.
Warwickshire Police said the 12 charges represented only a selection of the evidence uncovered by investigators because of the sheer volume of material they had examined.
Webster was arrested in September 2025 and pleaded guilty to all 12 offences at his first court appearance at Coventry Magistrates’ Court on August 5.
The BBC reported that prosecutor Jamie Scott told Warwick Crown Court that the CPS had taken a “proportionate approach” in selecting the 12 charges, while stressing there was “a raft” of similar material posted by Webster.
Referred to Prevent four times
The court also heard that Webster had been referred to the government’s Prevent counter-extremism programme on four occasions.
His first referral reportedly came in 2017 because of his association with a far-right group.
Counter Terrorism Policing West Midlands also confirmed that Webster had previously been investigated over racially aggravated offences.
Police searching his home found a crossbow, still in its packaging, in the attic, according to evidence heard by the court.
Despite these previous interventions, Webster’s offending ultimately escalated into material advocating extreme violence and the extermination of groups including Muslims.
Judge Anthony Potter said Webster had been given numerous opportunities to demonstrate remorse and change his behaviour.
“Talk is very very cheap,” the judge told him.
The judge said Webster’s online activity had allowed him to “escalate your offending and propagate the most harmful views,” adding that he could not accept there was a realistic prospect of rehabilitating Webster in the community.
He therefore sentenced him to two years’ imprisonment. Webster is expected to serve half the sentence in custody and the remainder on licence.
HMRC worker
The case has also raised questions because Webster had previously worked for HM Revenue and Customs.
During the BBC undercover investigation, Webster was secretly recorded boasting that he deliberately discriminated against non-white members of the public while doing his job.
He said he liked to give them “bad information which sounds interesting” and claimed: “I’m deliberately trying to sabotage them.”
The CPS confirmed that Webster had boasted about discriminating against non-white people through his work at HMRC.
HMRC launched an internal disciplinary process and dismissed him in February 2025, shortly after the BBC documentary was broadcast.
The department said it had taken the case “extremely seriously” and acted decisively.
‘Serious crime’
Frank Ferguson, Chief Crown Prosecutor for the CPS Special Crime and Counter Terrorism Division, said Webster had continually published violent statements intended to generate hatred and fear.
“Thomas Webster was vehement in his hatred of people whose race or sexuality did not fit with his extremist ideals,” Ferguson said. “This is a serious crime and those who promote, encourage or condone violence against others will be prosecuted.”
Speaking separately to the BBC, Ferguson stressed that the offending went far beyond legitimate arguments about freedom of expression.
He said Webster was expressing a desire for Jewish people, Muslims, black people, South Asians, immigrants and members of the LGBTQ+ community to be killed, while potentially encouraging others to adopt similar views.
Detective Chief Superintendent Alison Hurst, head of Counter Terrorism Policing West Midlands, said the sentence should send a message that promoting serious violence would not be tolerated.
She described Webster as a “vile individual” and thanked the BBC for the investigation which helped bring his activities to the attention of counter-terrorism police.
