An anti-vaxxer used the social media app Telegram to call for bomb attacks on pharmaceutical firms and “unbridled violence” against nurses and teachers over the rollout of the Covid-19 vaccination, the Old Bailey has heard.
Patrick Ruane, 54, spent months in 2021 encouraging thousands online to violently oppose the vaccine, it is said, using Telegram channels devoted to opposing the government’s pandemic lockdown measures.
In one message, he allegedly suggested they should “burn all the big pharmas offices manufacturing plants and infastructure to the fucking ground”, jurors heard.
Ruane now faces three terrorism charges, and is accused of calling for the explosive Semtex to be used in an anti-vaxxer attack.
He allegedly singled out the CEO of vaccine manufacturer Pfizer and is said to have called for people to “bomb the f****** labs”.
When news broke that children would be receiving the Covid-19 vaccination, Ruane is accused of posting on Telegram: “I say we storm the headquarters and where the b******* live and send them all back to hell where they came from, pitch forks, axes, chainsaw, pick axes, sledge hammers, machettes and torches.
“If loads of us turn up tooled up the police will s*** themselves, its time to start sending those bastards back to hell…”
In another post, he allegedly wrote: “It’s time to start hurting these f****** now unbridled violence is the only thing they understand need to find where the jabbers administering the poison live and wipe them out and the f****** teachers that are allow it”.
Prosecutor Julia Faure Walker told the court: “Over many months in 2021, the defendant, Mr Patrick Ruane, posted messages which would likely be understood as encouraging the use of firearms and explosives, as well as other forms of serious violence and disruption designed to influence the government or to intimidate a section of the public.
“He was vehemently against the measures brought in by the then government in response to the Covid-19 pandemic, including the lockdown and vaccination rollout. It was this ideological cause that drove the messages.
“It is not, of course, illegal to believe in any particular ideology. Whatever your personal viewpoint, there is nothing illegal in merely holding views or campaigning to bring about change.
“What brings Mr Ruane here, facing terrorism charges, is that rather than restricting himself to advocating change through argument or protest for example, he repeatedly referred to serious violence, even referring to the use of Semtex, as well as serious criminal damage and disruption of electronic communication systems.
“Such posts would likely be understood by a reasonable person as a direct or indirect encouragement to commit, prepare or instigate such acts, for the purpose of advancing an ideological cause.
“Not only did he post such messages. He also downloaded a document called “Anon - How to make jolly roger”, the first page of which had the title, ‘How to make Semtex’.
“The document contained viable instructions for making a variety of explosives and improvised (or home-made) explosive devices. The information within this document was of a kind likely be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism.”
Jurors have been told that Ruane, from Westbourne Terrace in Paddington, west London, posted on Telegram about his desire to “maim and kill” staff at the vaccine manufacturing companies.
Responding to a post about “big pharma” and “crimes against humanity”, Ruane is accused of writing: “I’m all for hunting them down and f***ing executing them where they stand as too many people have f***ing died and its not going to stop until we start killing them back.”
Replying to a post showing a nurse administering the vaccine to a child, it is said he wrote: “Im not going to say anything but if you drive and you see the jabbers on a zebra crossing knock them up in the air with your car”. Ms Faure Walker told the court in her opening speech that Ruane, when questioned by police, was “angry, frustrated and upset about lockdown policies, and opposed the vaccination rollout, believing various conspiracy theories about a hidden agenda”.
And she said two of the channels he posted in, named ‘The Resistance UK’ and ‘TGR Main Chatgroup (UK)’, had a combined membership of around 26,000.
“He could not possibly say that he knew all members of the group well enough to be confident that they would not be influenced by what he said,” she said.
“These large groups, his audience, would inevitably include people holding a range of views, and having a range of susceptibilities. And, when posting messages andother material on social media or other electronic means, it is all too easy for those receiving such messages to forward them on to others.
“Given how wide his audience was, he clearly intended to spread his views and encourage others, or was at least taking a risk that some of the group would be encouraged by what he was saying.”
In policeinterview, he referred to making “props” for a film, but did not elaborate onwhy he needed instructions for the explosives for that.
He told police hehad lost his business during the last lockdown and was drinking a lot.
Ms Faure Walkersuggested a potential issue was whether he was using alcohol as an excuse todeny responsibility for his actions.
Ruane denies two charges of encouraging terrorism and a third count of possessing a document likely to be useful for committing a terrorist act.
The trial continues.
