Daniel Harris: Radicalized British teen whose videos have been linked to two mass killings in US prisons | UK News

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An extremist British teen has been jailed after far-right videos were linked to two mass killings in the US.

Daniel Harris used an online platform called World Truth Videos to spread a “call to arms” because of his violent racist beliefs, a court heard.

The 19-year-old from Glossop in Derbyshire was found guilty of five counts of encouraging terrorism and one count of possession of a 3D printer for terrorist purposes after a trial at Manchester Crown Court.

He was sentenced to 11 and a half years in prison, and another three years on licence.

Prosecutors said American mass murderer Payton Gendron was “in part encouraged and motivated to do what he did” by Harris.

Gendron killed 10 black people in a mass shooting in Buffalo, New York, in May 2022 while live-streaming the attack. Within hours, Harris produced a videotape celebrating his killing spree.

Gendron, 19, had left a comment on one of Harris’ videos two months before the mass shooting, saying, “You’re not alone buddy :).”

Photo: Payton Gendron killed 10 people in a mass shooting in New York

The video included lessons to be learned from Brenton Tarrant, who live-streamed an attack that killed 51 people at mosques in New Zealand in March 2019.

Gendron also took an image from another video of Harris and used it as the main image in his “manifesto”.

Prosecutor Joe Allman said Gendron “inspired” Harris’ material.

The court was told the British teenager also affected Anderson Lee Aldrich, the sole suspect in the Colorado gay bar shooting.

Photo: Anderson Lee Aldrich is accused of killing five people in a shooting in Colorado

Aldrich, 22, allegedly killed five people during a random gun attack in Colorado Springs, in November last year – during Harris’ trial in the UK.

Allman said Aldrich — who has not yet made pleas over the Colorado shooting — was “reached out” by Harris’ production.

The prosecutor told the court that one of the videos of Harris was posted on a “brother site” to a website with links to what appeared to be a live feed of Aldrich preparing to carry out the attacks.

“The Crown says it shows that the individuals with the greatest anxiety have had access to material produced by Mr Harris,” Allman said.

Photo: The scene after the buffalo was shot. Pic: AP

Read more: What is the “Great Substitution Theory” in the Buffalo Killer Manifesto? Shooting buffalo ‘fueled with a diet of hate’

Harris has been described in court as an “influential online propagandist of an extremely violent and racist ideology”.

Allman said his videos glorified mass killings and were “a call to arms for those who participated, or who could be persuaded to share Harris’ worldview”.

Under the pseudonym “BookAnon”, the court heard, “Harris’ videos encouraged and gave instructions to carry out terrorist acts against those who are not of the white European race.”

One of the videos showed how to make an assault rifle using a 3D printer and when the police raided Harris’ grandfather’s house, they found he had started making the parts himself.

Photo: 3D-printed gun parts made by Harris

‘Poisoned speech with indescribable impact’

After the teen was convicted, investigator Chris Brett said there were initially attempts to engage Harris through the Prevent programme, which aims to prevent people from becoming terrorists.

“It quickly became apparent that he was pretending to erase extremism while promoting terrorism online,” Brett added.

“The threat it caused meant we had to work towards ensuring the safety of the wider public.”

Mr Brett said Harris had “clearly demonstrated a disdain for law enforcement and public order, as well as admiration for those who have committed atrocities in terrorist attacks abroad”.

“By posting these videos online, Harris’ toxic rhetoric could have had an indescribable impact on countless people around the world – such actions will not be tolerated,” the senior officer said.

He added that officers made a “somewhat frightening discovery of attempts to make firearm parts printed from his 3D printer” during a search that “showed clear intent to make a lethal weapon.”

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