A teenager who daubed a Windrush mural with Nazi symbols after being radicalised online is facing jail. The 17-year-old from south Wales, who cannot legally be named due to his age, is charged with five terror offences.
A teenager who daubed a Windrush mural with Nazi symbols after being radicalised online is facing jail. The 17-year-old from south Wales, who cannot legally be named due to his age, is charged with five terror offences.
Intimidating people is real harm, though. Racism is harm. Not knowing which of your neighbours is a fucking Nazi and what they might do next is a harm.
It’s all very well to say “ooh it’s just a bit of spraypaint and nobody got hurt” until you’re the one wondering if it’s going to be a brick through your window next or a boot to your spine. The effect of shit like this is to make people live in fear.
It is harm. However, it is a different level of harm.
Ultimately I think he’s just a kid stuck in Wales who’s lurked the internet too much, and putting him in prison potentially with Nazis is not going to deter him from his budding Nazi ideology. Instead, it would be better to direct him away from that and encourage him to develop his computer skills for good.