TL:DR – Teen attempted to enlist fascists to “join your local Nazis” from his parents’ room | News UK
- Joseph Cope, 20, promoted right-wing terrorism on Telegram from age 16.
- He operated channels ‘Serrano’s Division’ and ‘the Great Library of Thule’, sharing extremist content.
- Cope encouraged followers to “join your local Nazis” and posted pro-Nazi images.
- He was arrested in June 2022; police found extremist literature at his home.
- Cope denies charges of encouraging terrorism and possessing terrorist documents, citing exploitation by a fictional group.
- The court has ordered psychiatric evaluations for Cope.
Teen tried to recruit fascists to ‘join your local Nazis’ from his parent’s bedroom | News UK
A trial at the Old Bailey heard about the terrifying ideology he shared (Picture: Getty)
A teenager promoted right-wing terrorism online and encouraged people to ‘join your local Nazis’, a court discovered.
Joseph Cope, now 20, began a terrorism campaign on Telegram when he was just 16 to encourage people to join the hateful group.
He began encouraging terrorism on a Telegram channel he moderated named ‘Serrano’s Devision’, which had 277 subscribers and was open to the public.
Cope, now 20, also started a channel called the ‘great Library of Thule’ where he posted hundreds of terrorist publications and Mein Kampf, the Old Bailey heard.
He was arrested in his bedroom at his parents’ home in Hertfordshire on June 14, 2022.
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He also posted an image of Anders Breivik, a Norwegian right-wing terrorist who murdered 77 people in two terror attacks in Oslo in 2011 and called for his release.
In the image, Breivik was making a Nazi salute in front of a Nazi ‘black sun’ symbol and ‘Join your local Nazis’.
Cope shared the worrying images on a Telegram channel (Picture: NurPhoto)
Cope, of Borehamwood, Herts, also shared an image of a figure pointing a gun at the heads of figures with Jewish, Islamic and Christian symbols with the words ‘Death to Abrahamists, Long Live Aryanism…Join your Local Nazis.’
He also posted an image of a masked figure in uniform with a gun, next to people hanging from a noose with the words ‘From every tree and lamp post a traitor will hang’.
Cope, who the court heard has autism spectrum disorder, denied three counts of encouraging terrorism, one of disseminating terrorist publications on a Telegram channel and possession of a terrorist document, namely the ‘White Resistance Manual’.
He first stood trial last year, but a few days in, he became too mentally unwell to continue.
Cope had told police someone called ‘Hydra’ exploited him and got him to do what he did, but police found no evidence of this.
‘Hydra’ is the name of a fictional Neo-Nazi group in the Marvel comics and Captain America films.
Prosecutor Dan Pawson-Pounds said: ‘This is a case about the use of social media to encourage terrorism, both directly and by providing a service to other people to allow them to access terrorist publications online.
‘The encouragement was by a young man, Joseph Cope, to others to commit acts of terrorism.
‘He did so by publishing posts and images on a social media application called Telegram, on a channel called “Serrano’s Division”.
‘On that Telegram channel, Joseph Cope also put a link to a separate Telegram channel called the “Great Library of Thule”.
The court also heard Cope uploaded ‘hundreds’ of documents with extreme right-wing themes, including how to ’cause mass public disorder and incite violent attacks on racial groups.’
When police went to Cope’s home, they were met by his father, who told them he was in his bedroom.
Extreme right-wing books were found in his room, the court heard.
Cope denied three counts of encouraging terrorism, one of disseminating terrorist publications on a Telegram channel and possession of a terrorist document, namely the’White Resistance Manual’.
The Recorder of London, Judge Mark Lucraft, ordered extensive psychiatric reports and is likely to make an order under the Mental Health Act on a future date.
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