Three ‘vile’ neo-Nazis who manufactured a 3D printed assault rifle as part of a plot to attack mosques and synagogues have been found guilty of terrorism offences.
A terrifying video shows police test-firing the deadly weapon after adding a barrel and firing pin which the plotters were sourcing when counter-terror officers swooped.
It was among an arsenal of weapons found in a string of raids including crossbows, swords, machetes, axes, a baseball bat and numerous hunting knives.
Christopher Ringrose, 34, Marco Pitzettu, 25, and Brogan Stewart, 25, were seized after their group was infiltrated by an undercover officer using the name Blackheart.
Today, they were all convicted of preparing acts of terrorism and possessing information useful for terrorism.
A jury rejected their claims they were fantasists with no intention of carrying out their threats. The defendants, who will be sentenced on July 17, were told by the judge, Mrs Justice Cutts: ‘You must all expect substantial custodial sentences’.
During their trial at Sheffield Crown Court the trio claimed they were preparing for a ‘sh*t hits the fan’ scenario such as a Russian invasion or a zombie apocalypse.
But prosecutors said in reality they preparing for a race war, discussing potential targets including religious centres and asylum hotels.
The home-made assault rifle was manufactured by Ringrose – a manager at a car parts supplier – using a £165 3D printer.
‘Vile’ neo-Nazis Brogan Stewart, 25 (left), Marco Pitzettu, 25 (centre) and Christopher Ringrose, 34, amassed an arsenal of weapons and plotted to attack worshippers at a mosque in Leeds
Ringrose (pictured) had also 3D-printed most of the components of a semi-automatic firearm at the time of his arrest and was trying to get the remaining parts
The 3D printed gun found in a box in the loft at ‘armourer’ Christopher Ringrose’s house in Cannock, Staffordshire
Terror plotter Brogan Stewart, 25, lived with his mother in Tingley, near Wakefield, West Yorkshire where his bedroom featured childish wallpaper of diggers and cranes on one wall and a Nazi flag and white supremacist posters on another
Called the FGC-9 Mk II, it was devised by a German man called Jacob Duygu, known as JStark.
He claimed he came up with it in order to take on the ‘surveillance state’ and ‘authoritarian regimes’.
It was released as a series of computer files in 2021 and has featured in a number of recent far right cases, but this is the most complete version yet seized.
The weapon was missing the barrel and firing pin but the men were sourcing the remaining components.
They had also planned a training session on woodland in Derbyshire as they prepared the attack an Islamic educational centre in Leeds.
But on January 5 last year, Stewart – a self-styled ‘stay at home domestic terrorist’ who had never had a job, and lived with his mother – messaged ‘Blackheart’ on the encrypted Telegram app.
Stewart – who had previously called for Rishi Sunak to be tortured and executed – told him he was disillusioned with other far right groups that just ‘sit around and talk’.
‘I want to get my own group together because action speaks louder than words,’ he added.
In one message he complained: ‘All our f**king money is being handed to no good scummy bastards that want a free living for nothing.’
A court artist sketch of the accused trio of Brogan Stewart (left), Christopher Ringrose (centre) and Marco Pitzettu (right)
Far right plotter Marco Pitzettu in a skull mask adopted by the far-right accompanied by a masked relative making racist threats in an image released by police. He captioned it: ‘En route to beat up some p***s
Far right terror plotter Brogan Stewart’s tattoo of a black sun symbol used by the Nazi SS
In another he boasted that he was a ‘stay at home domestic terrorist’ and added: ‘I can’t stress how much I want to kill a politician.’
On January 23, Stewart messaged the group, which he had named Einsatz 14 – a reference to Nazi paramilitary death squads and a white supremacist slogan.
‘Gentlemen, the time for talk is now over,’ he wrote.
‘We will be discussing and planning a mission against migrants. This is compulsory.
‘First we must locate such a target, then agree on a time and date.’
Stewart told the undercover officer that he wanted to capture and interrogate a local imam ‘who will probably be giving orders to foot soldiers.’
He said he would torture the imam using a blow torch, Stanley knife, pliers, a hammer, bleach and a syringe.
On January 30, Stewart re-posted a video to the group by far-right activist Tommy Robinson and issued a ‘mandatory order’ for a ‘gathering to start attacks on blacks and P***s.’
He then sent a voice note to Blackheart identifying the mosque he planned to target with a ‘beating with batons and bats or something more serious.’
On February 5 he told the group they would ‘cruise around’ looking for ‘human targets’ then ‘do what whatever we do then back at mine for tea and medals and a debrief.’
The group’s fearsome arsenal included a crossbow with a set of bolts and a machete found at Christopher Ringrose’s house in Cannock, Staffordshire
A replica Kalashnikov assault rifle and a crossbow found at the home of group ‘Fuhrer’ Brogan Stewart in West Yorkshire
The members – who had never met in person – were to meet in woodland in Derbyshire on February 18 to ‘cement that brotherhood’.
But the training session was cancelled because of bad weather and the group was arrested two days later.
Stewart lived with his mother in Tingley, near Wakefield, West Yorkshire.
Images released today by police show his bedroom with childish wallpaper of diggers and cranes on one wall and a Nazi flag and white supremacist posters on another.
Ringrose, from Cannock, Staffordshire, had manufactured the 3D firearm using a Creality Printer widely available on Amazon and other suppliers.
In March 2022 a video filmed in his bedroom showed he had made most of the parts, including the trigger mechanism and magazine, and had acquired blank-firing bullets.
Appointed ‘armourer’ of the group, Ringrose – whose wife was pregnant with their second child – posted a picture of his one-year-old son wearing a skull mask associated with the far right and the words ‘choose violence’.
Fellow ‘armourer’ Pitzettu, a mechanic from Mickleover, Derbyshire, shared videos of the Christchurch mosque attack and a racist shooting spree in Buffalo, New York.
The 3D printer which ‘armourer’ Christopher Ringrose used to manufacturer a potentially lethal assault rifle
Self-styled ‘stay at home domestic terrorist’ Brogan Stewart wearing a Nazi helmet in his childhood bedroom
He was keen to produce another 3D weapon, exchanging tips with Ringrose.
Before setting up their own inner-circle, the trio had been members of a survivalist ‘preppers’ chat group on Telegram.
In November 2022 Stewart had asked the group ‘How do we execute the prime minister?’ – then Rishi Sunak – with a number of options including torturing him and breaking most of his bones.
They were also members of a Facebook group on which Stewart complained that he was ‘absolutely frothing at the mouth’ after seeing ‘a group of 20 f****** P**is’ of whom ‘every single one of them had better iPhones than me’.
Demanding a ‘purge’, he added: ‘Make England great again.’
Ringrose posted that ‘boatloads of immigrants (were) coming to the UK to rape and pillage our country’, accusing the Government of ‘inciting a race war’.
After setting up Einsatz 14, Stewart took on the title of ‘Fuhrer’, saying he had ‘taken inspiration from the SS,’ a reference to the Nazi paramilitary group run by Heinrich Himmler.
Possible objectives included ‘operations to meet migrants landing on our beaches and deal with them’, he wrote.
‘As the race war comes to unfold I’d expect members to stand by, wait for orders and deploy to combat.’
Jonathan Sandiford KC, prosecuting, told the court, the three men had formed their own group ‘not simply to talk about what they wanted to do but to fight and go to war for their chosen course.’
By the time of their arrest in February 2024, ‘the defendants had identified potential locations and targets and it was the imminent threat of an attack that led to the defendants being arrested,’ he said.
Detective Chief Superintendent James Dunkerley, head of Counter-Terrorism Policing North East, said the three men espoused ‘vile racist views and advocated for violence, to support their extreme right-wing mindset.’
‘Some of their defence in court was that it was all fantasy or just part of harmless chat, however all three took real world steps to plan and prepare for carrying out an attack on innocent citizens,’ he added.
‘Due to excellent collaborative work with our partners, we were able to infiltrate the group and arrest them before anyone was harmed.’
Ringrose, Pitzettu, and Stewart,were found guilty of a charge of preparing acts of terrorism and charges of collecting information likely to be useful to a person preparing or committing an act of terrorism.
Ringrose was also convicted of manufacturing a prohibited weapon.
Pitzettu pleaded guilty to obtaining an illegal stun gun at a previous hearing.
Bethan David, head of the Crown Prosecution Service’s Counter Terrorism Division, said: ‘These extremists were plotting violent acts of terrorism against synagogues, mosques and an Islamic Education Centre. By their own admission, they were inspired by SS tactics and supremacist ideology.
‘Had Christopher Ringrose managed to completely finish building the 3D-printed semi-automatic firearm that he had started to, it could have been used leading to devastating consequences.’
