Neo-Nazi teenager who kicked trans woman in head is jailed

A teenage far-right extremist who kicked a transgender woman in the head before boasting about it online saying 'Best day ever', has been jailed for over five years.

Alex Edwards, also known as Alex Hutton, attacked the woman and her two male friends while they had a picnic at a park in Swansea in May last year.

The 19-year-old called one of them a 'nonce' and said the group were 'trannies', before the victim — a student at the local university — threw her drink at Edwards and his 14-year-old accomplice. 

Edwards then retaliated by swinging a 'forceful kick' at her head four or five times, yelling 'Heil Hitler', while his friend filmed the brutal assault. 

The attack left the victim unconscious with marks from Edwards' trainer on her face, bruising to both eye sockets, and cuts all over her head, a court heard. 

Edwards, of Morriston, Swansea, was jailed five years and four months at Winchester Crown Court after pleading guilty to assault occasioning actual bodily harm, disseminating terrorist material and having a bladed article in a public place.

He was also convicted of breaching a criminal behaviour order for a previous offence of distributing terrorist material in 2022. 

Police were alerted after Edwards' former girlfriend saw a video he posted to a closed group on Instagram on October 9 last year, which featured footage of the assault mixed with extreme right-wing clips.

He had added a laughing face emoji and captioned it: 'Got the full video off a mate finally, only had the aftermath. Still love my switch kick', a reference to a mixed martial arts move.

He also posted: 'Best day ever.' 

The ex-girlfriend, who said Edwards had an 'obsession with Hitler and Nazism', showed the post to her mother, who then reported it to police.

Examination of the Instagram group revealed that it had 73 members, most of whom were young people.

Catherine Farrelly KC, prosecuting, told the court one video he had posted carried the message that 'going to jail isn't enough, the implication being that more should be done to pursue an ideology'. 

Another compilation, posted on September 24 last year, boasted he was 'turning a group of innocent kids into the most racist, homophobic kids to try and revive a certain type of cult.'

In messages to the youth who had filmed the attack, Edwards had written: 'I f**king hate blacks, p*kis, any c**t that ain't white, I want to kill them all, cleanse this country of them all, I will bomb and kill them all.

'My mum kicked me out, she don't want me back home, saying I'm a danger and all that s**t, cause of the knife, cause I'm apparently a dangerous person who now has a big knife and she doesn't want an evil person living in her house.'

On October 7, he messaged 'Ella L' a young woman, sending her four extreme right-wing videos with content from Atomwaffen Division, a banned neo-Nazi terrorist group.

He talked about his previous conviction for terrorist offences, saying that his sentence was, 'still worth it'.

On the same day, he was involved in Instagram communications about setting up an 'active club' and when police raided his home on November 16, they found a large knife in a sheath in the attic. 

The teenager avoided a jail sentence at the age of 14, despite setting up a white supremacist chat group called the 'British Hand', which encouraged fellow teenagers to launch terrorist attacks on immigrants in Dover and London.

Edwards, who dubbed himself 'the Commander', had been sentenced to a 24-month youth referral order after saying he wanted to go to university to study veterinary medicine or zoology and telling the court: 'I don't hold those views. That's not the person I am.'

In fact, he dropped out of education, never got a job and boasted that he had 'bullied' people on his youth rehabilitation course, Winchester Crown Court was told.

Thomas Schofield, defending, said that Edwards had a 'neurological impairment' with signs of autistic spectrum disorder, Asperger's syndrome and and added: 'He is a particularly immature 19-year-old,' The Independent reported. 

Referencing the attack, Judge Christopher Parker KC told Edwards: 'There is a clear link between your transphobic behaviour and your extreme right-wing ideology.

'You have an entrenched mindset of hatred, you continued to encourage young men to commit attacks against minorities and I am concerned about the escalation of your behaviour from words and videos over the internet to violent action.

'In my judgment you are somebody who poses a risk of serious harm from further offences and you are therefore dangerous.'

Bethan David, Head of Counter Terrorism Division at the Crown Prosecution Service, said: 'Alex Hutton is not simply a fantasist that held extreme views, he is a dangerous young man.

'His unprovoked attack was driven by hate and he poses a substantial risk to other groups and society as a whole.

'He celebrated terrorist acts of white supremacy and encouraged his friends and associates on various social media and messaging platforms to join him in his extreme and disturbing views.

'The CPS will always prosecute those who encourage acts of terrorism and hate to protect the public.'

Detective Chief Inspector Leanne Williams, Head of Investigations at Counter Terrorism Policing Wales, said: 'We welcome the outcome of this case. 

'Alex Hutton, motivated by hate, engaged in a horrendous and unprovoked attack on a defenceless young girl who was minding her own business one afternoon in a Swansea park in May 2023.

'There is no doubt that the attack will have lasting effects on this young person and I really hope today's outcome provides her with some comfort.

'Furthermore, Hutton demonstrated a clear intention to spread his hatred across the internet encouraging acts of terrorism. 

'Officers from Counter Terrorism Policing Wales uncovered his actions during a detailed investigation, which then led us to the assault that took place earlier in the year.

'I hope he now uses the time in custody to reflect on his actions, with a view to leading a far more productive life upon his eventual release.'