A teenager who developed an obsession with neo-Nazis and attempted to decapitate a Kurdish barber with an axe, driven by a desire to “kill all Jews and Muslims”, has been sentenced to more than 15 years behind bars.
Alina Burns, 19, launched the assault on Mohammed Mahmoodi, 27, as he stood outside his shop in Bedminster, Bristol, in August last year. Bristol Crown Court was told that Burns had been driven by neo-Nazi extremism and had been in communication with far-right organisations.
She had instructed a man on a dating app to “kill all Jews and Muslims” and had scoured the internet for material relating to Jihad, the Southport stabbings, Jewish supremacy and Nazi Germany.
Prosecuting counsel Serena Gates KC informed the court: “The prosecution case is that the defendant had an extreme right-wing mindset and wanted Jews and Muslims to be killed and non-whites to flee or be expelled from the UK. The day before the attack the defendant was watching videos of SS marches and sent an email called, ‘The dawn of civil war’.”
At an earlier hearing, Burns, of Lynton Road, Bristol, admitted attempted murder along with three counts of possessing a bladed article – namely an axe, a scalpel and two darts. She had contested a charge of engaging in conduct in preparation of terrorist acts, contrary to the Terrorism Act.
The Crown contended that, despite accepting the guilty pleas, a terrorist motivation underpinned the attack, a position upheld by the presiding judge, Mrs Justice Lambert. During sentencing, the judge stated: “I have no doubt that you are a dangerous offender and you remain deeply entrenched in your abnormal belief system. You communicated with a man on an online dating app which at one stage you expressed the desire to kill all the Jews and Muslims in Britain, and also carry out a plan where you wished to take all the glory for carrying this out.
“There were Telegram chats with the Patriotic Alternative, a far-right group. “The leader of the Patriotic Alternative has made highly racist and homophobic comments in public.
“You also accessed large quantities of material reflecting extreme right-wing ideology.”
The judge determined Burns met the criteria for an extended sentence due to the danger she posed. She handed down a custodial term of 15-and-a-half years with an additional four-year licence period.
Burns will become eligible to seek parole upon completing two-thirds of her prison term. The attack occurred on the afternoon of August 2 when Burns crept up behind Mr Mahmoodi and swung the axe – which she had purchased specifically for the assault – at his neck, inflicting a minor injury.
Mr Mahmoodi, who stood considerably taller than the 5ft 2in Burns, managed to wrench the axe from her grasp before she could deliver another blow. A police officer patrolling nearby heard the disturbance and rushed to the location in East Street, where Burns was apprehended.
When questioned about her assault on the Kurdish-Iranian man, Burns informed the officer: “Because I wanted to cut his neck. I would do it again, but to succeed.”
Subsequently, she informed a Mental Health Act assessor that she was aware Mr Mahmoodi was employed at the barbers, which she claimed was implicated “in money laundering”.
“I know of him, he works in the Turkish barbers, I think they are money laundering and the police aren’t doing anything about it,” she said.
“So if I done this, then maybe the police would investigate the shop.”
Miss Gates addressed the court, stating: “She further asked if it had been on the news yet. She said she wanted to influence people to do the same thing, but be successful.
“She stated she would do it again, but to succeed.”
Following Burns’ arrest, investigators uncovered her connections to far-right organisations and extremist ideology.
Five months prior to the assault, she had utilised an online dating application to communicate with a man, telling him: “I am the embodiment of hell and desire to amplify everything I bear witness too. I don’t want to end my life anymore. I plan on bringing change to the UK through means I can’t detail.”
She subsequently instructed him to “kill all the Jews and Muslims in Britain please”. The court heard that the unidentified man subsequently reported the conversation to the authorities. Investigators discovered handwritten notes at her residence concerning the “spread of Islam”, methods for creating explosives using fertiliser, and nuclear weaponry.
Additional notes referenced German SS units from the Second World War, Adolf Hitler’s book Mein Kampf, and the nationalist novel The Turner Diaries.
On her notebook computer was a copy of a terrorist handbook detailing chemicals and IEDs. Burns had also utilised the Telegram messaging platform to reach out to a member of the British far-right organisation Patriotic Alternative.
In his victim personal statement, Mr Mahmoodi explained he had fled Iran due to persecution and had sought asylum in the UK.
“After this attack my life has completely changed,” he said.
“I cannot move my neck easily and the physical reminder of the scar where I was nearly killed is a daily reminder. My mental health has suffered and I am living in fear.
“My sleep in impacted and I wake up with bad dreams and nightmares of being attacked from behind with an axe. I am still living with the effects of the attack more mentally than I could have imagined.”
Defence barrister Andrew Langdon KC explained Burns endured a troubled upbringing after her family lost their home and resided in various temporary housing.
“This is plainly a disturbing case for a number of reasons,” he said.
“My Ladyship’s primary concern will be for Mr Mahmoodi and for society.” Mr Langdon revealed that although Burns’s mum and dad were both teachers, the youngster had ceased full-time schooling at 14.
“The last three of four years of her life are spiralling descent and isolation, despite living with her family,” he added.
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