A former British soldier found guilty of preparing to commit a terrorist attack has been jailed for four years and ten months.
William Howitt, formerly of Holme Road, West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, wrote a comprehensive and detailed plan to commit an arson attack at an independent bookstore in Nottingham.
He denied the offence, but was found guilty following a three-week trial at Birmingham Crown Court on 16 November 2023.
The 27-year-old’s phone was seized when he was stopped by Counter-Terrorism officers at East Midlands Airport on 5 January 2023.
On it, they found ‘Plan A’, detailing an attack on the city centre bookshop.
Also on the device were a number of anti-Semitic, anti-Marxist and pro-Nazi messages, pictures and videos, which Howitt had started sending to friends from 2020.
‘Plan A’ was written on the notes app on his phone, and was created during the evening of 7 September 2020 and remained there.
Howitt claimed he was drunk and under the influence of drugs when he wrote it, and that the messages he sent were to create a persona and for bravado, and not a true representation of his views.
Howitt was arrested on Tuesday 14 March 2023, and charged with preparing an act of terrorism (under Section 5 of the Terrorism Act 2006).
The bookstore was identified as a target by Howitt, as a reflection of his strongly opposing views – namely left-of-centre political and social issues, such as the ‘Black Lives Matter’ movement.
Using his former military knowledge and training, it set out the steps he would take in order to set fire to the location, and then escape, avoiding detection.
In the hours around the writing of the plan, Howitt went online and purchased the tools outlined he would need. A glass hammer and tarpaulin sheet were found at his address when officers from Counter Terrorism Policing East Midlands (CTPEM) searched the property.
Following the trial, on Friday 24 November at Nottingham Crown Court, Howitt also pleaded guilty to a series of acts to pervert the course of justice, having convinced a friend to take driving licence points for a speeding offence.
For this, he was sentenced to four months which will run consecutively to the four years six months he was sentenced to for the terrorism offences.
Howitt will also be subject to 12 months on licence on his release, as well as a 15-year notification order, under Part 4 of the Counter-Terrorism Act 2008.
After sentencing at Birmingham Crown Court on Wednesday 20 December, Detective Inspector Chris Brett, from Counter Terrorism Policing East Midlands (CTPEM), said:
“This sentencing sends a clear message that people are not free to act upon their own hateful beliefs.
“Despite the fact that Howitt did not commit an attack, he did take steps to create a detailed and comprehensive plan to do so.
“He thought that his beliefs were not only acceptable, but even cool, and something that if he acted on, would make him seem like even more of the ‘tough guy’ who he so desperately wanted to be regarded as.
“This is never the case. His plan showed a clear intention to make a targeted attack on a business, and thus people, he deemed held differing views to himself. Lives could have been lost for the sake of intolerance.
“The guilty verdict from the jury was based around Howitt’s intent. The judge clarified that they must decide only that the intent was formed and should make their decision on that basis.
“I am pleased that he also clarified that drunken intent was still intent, however informed the jury that a certain level of intoxication can affect this intent.
“This helped the jury see through Howitt’s defence, and took his extreme right wing views for what they were – meaning he will now no longer pose a risk of acting upon his dangerous thoughts.
“In Counter Terrorism Policing we work hard to root out those who hold such damaging ideologies and pose risk of committing potentially deadly actions and will bring them before the courts.”
• West Bridgford man found guilty of planning terrorist attack on Nottingham bookshop
