Two white supremacists who used a podcast to incite violence against minorities - including targeting Prince Harry’s son Archie - have been found guilty of terror crimes. Christopher Gibbons and Tyrone Patten-Walsh hosted 'Black Wolf Radio', where they launched homophobic, racist, anti-Semitic, Islamophobic and misogynistic tirades.
In one broadcast the pair called Harry and Meghan Markle's four-year-old son an "abomination that should be put down". Gibbons and Patten-Walsh also endorsed the killing of Labour MP Jo Cox in 2016, who was murdered by a white supremacist in her constituency of Batley, West Yorkshire.
They also glorified Brenton Tarrant, who went on a shooting spree in 2019 when he killed 51 people at two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand. Police investigating their podcast said they even "encouraged listeners to go out and commit acts of terrorist violence".
The investigation found Gibbons also created an Internet library containing hundreds of extreme right-wing texts and other material. The content online and their podcast was analysed and some of the material was found to be in breach of terrorism legislation, police said.
Officers discovered that the pair produced 21 episodes of the series in which they launched hate-filled rants about mixed race relationships. Gibbons’ neo-Nazi online library was found by police to have held more than 500 videos of extreme right-wing-related speeches and propaganda documents.
It had nearly 1,000 subscribers, and the content had been viewed more than 152,000 times, according to Scotland Yard. The videos and files were analysed by a team of specialist officers from the Met’s specialist Counter Terrorism Internet Referral Unit (CTIRU) and they assessed that they were in breach of terror laws.
Seven videos and a further document were found to also contain extremist views, imagery, rhetoric or information that encouraged others to carry out terrorist acts, police said. Both men were arrested in May 2021 and were charged three months later.
Both men denied eight counts of encouraging acts of terrorism - each charge relating to a different podcast episode. Gibbons also went on trial for two counts of dissemination of terrorist publications. Both were found guilty of all charges of encouraging acts of terrorism at Kingston Crown Court on Friday
Commander Dominic Murphy, who leads the Met’s Counter Terrorism Command, said after the convictions: “Gibbons and Patten-Walsh thought that the fact they were airing their hateful views and advocating terrorist acts in plain sight, on a radio and podcast platform, somehow gave them some legitimacy and meant they wouldn’t face any consequences. They were wrong and both our investigation and a jury has found that they sought to encourage terrorism in how they expressed their abhorrent extreme right-wing views.
“During the course of the investigation detectives reviewed hundreds of hours of material and the result of their work was the compelling case that was presented at court, which has resulted in their convictions. If you come across extremist content online, report it to police and we will act. Information from the public is vitally important in our fight against terrorism.”
Gibbons, of Carshalton, south London, and Patten-Walsh, of Romford, east London, will be sentenced at the same court in September.
