'Right wing extremist' claims he was preparing for a Russian invasion not mosque attack

A 25-year-old man from Tingley, Wakefield, accused of stockpiling weapons for a potential mosque attack, claimed in court that he was actually preparing for a Russian invasion. Brogan Stewart, who has been linked to white supremacist ideology, denied planning for a race war, stating: "I believed paratroopers were going to be deployed, and I became extremely paranoid, so I started wearing a bulletproof vest at home."

"I thought they're not just going to stop at Ukraine, they're going to deploy troops in other countries as well. I heard about the Russians committing horrible war crimes. I thought it was going to happen in England as well."

Sheffield Crown Court was told that in January last year, Brogan Stewart created an online group called Einsatz 14, reportedly named after Nazi paramilitary death squads, and stated:

"I intend on dying in a race war." Prosecutors allege he was joined by Marco Pitzettu, 25, from Mickleover, Derby, and Christopher Ringrose, 34, from Cannock, Staffordshire, and that they acquired weapons, including hunting knives and a 3D-printed firearm.

It is claimed the group planned a training session in woodland in Derbyshire as part of their preparation for an attack on the al-Amin Islamic Educational Centre on Mexborough Road, Leeds. Police searching Stewart's home found an arsenal of weapons, including 27 knives, six axes, four swords, three crossbows, and a baseball bat. He also possessed two deactivated machine guns, three deactivated rifles, and three deactivated pistols and had allegedly discussed methods to reactivate them.

Weapons including a bayonet, crossbow and deactivated AK-47, allegedly found at Stewart's home

Testifying in his defense, Stewart said he began "prepping" at the age of 14 after attending survival lessons with the army cadets. He recalled asking his mother to buy him a Bear Grylls survival kit, which included a survival blanket, water purification tablets, and a multi-tool pen knife.

He later turned to YouTube for survival tips and read books to prepare for a "worst-case scenario" situation, the court heard. When questioned by his lawyer, Sultana Tafada KC, about whether he had been preparing for acts of terrorism, Stewart denied the accusation.

Prosecutors allege that in November 2022, Stewart told other members of a Facebook group: "Need to get more members and safe houses." However, in court, he claimed his comments were inspired by the film Red Dawn, which depicts Russian paratroopers invading a town, prompting a group of teenagers to retreat to the mountains and engage in guerrilla warfare.

The court heard in a message from December 2023, on a Telegram chat group called National Socialist Movement of the United Kingdom, Stewart wrote: "I'm absolutely frothing at the mouth. Went out today with our kid and seen a gang of about 20 f**king p**is apparently fresh from the holding centres.

"Every single one of them had new iPhones and nicer clothes than me. Harassing people for cigarettes and money. I wanna chop their filthy fucking heads off...Not one single woman, all fighting age fit men. Makes me want to puke."

He told his trial that he had been to the B and M store in Morley in West Yorkshire and "saw migrants harassing people, asking for change and stuff like that."

"I think Russia is sending these men over disguised as migrants when in actual fact they are sleeper soldiers, to invade," he added.

All three men deny preparing for acts of terrorism and possessing information that could be useful for terrorism. Additionally, Ringrose denies manufacturing the lower receiver for a 3D-printed firearm, while Pitzettu denies possessing a stun gun.

Presenting the case against the men earlier this month, prosecutor Jonathan Sandiford KC told the jury that Stewart, Pitzettu, and Ringrose had either obtained or attempted to obtain a "wide variety of weapons," including swords, knives, axes, spears, and crossbows.

He stated that the group had also researched explosives and firearms and had attempted to manufacture a 3D-printed semi-automatic firearm as part of their preparations. Sandiford told the court, "The prosecution asserts that these three defendants were right-wing extremists who identified as National Socialists, or Nazis."

The prosecutor further alleged that Stewart had spoken to an undercover officer on the Telegram messaging app, claiming to have what he described as an "information extraction kit." This kit reportedly contained a blowtorch, pliers, gaffer tape, a screwdriver, bleach, and a syringe. Sandiford claimed that Stewart had discussed torturing victims, including "local imams," and had remarked that "nothing loosens up" people "like seeing a syringe filled with bleach."