The security services uncovered Jacob Graham’s activity as part of an investigation into the purchase of chemicals online, it can be disclosed.
By Duncan Gardham, security journalist
A left-wing anarchist has been jailed for 13 years for preparing acts of terrorism by compiling and sharing a bomb-making manual, after declaring he wanted to kill at least 50 people.
Jacob Graham, 20, from Norris Green, Liverpool, dedicated his manual, called the “Freedom Encyclopaedia”, to “misfits, social nobodies, anarchists, [and] terrorists past and future, who want to fight for freedom against the government”.
The security services uncovered Graham’s activity as part of an investigation into the purchase of chemicals online, it can be disclosed.
When they raided the home he shared with his mother and sister, they discovered he had filmed bomb-making experiments in his back garden and buried supplies in a secret woodland hide in Formby, Merseyside.
In a document called “My Plan”, Graham wrote he wanted to kill at least 50 people by attacking government buildings and politicians’ houses.
He also made 138 videos, to be released on the day of an attack, in which he demonstrated explosives and talked about “Judgement Day” and “standing up for working-class people”.
On a wall in his bedroom, Graham had printed out a picture of a car bomb exploding with the words: “Make politicians afraid to start their cars again.”
Graham, a computer science student, used the name “Destro the Destroyer” and communicated with like-minded extremists using a gaming platform called Discord.
On another platform called Telegram, he exchanged messages with others who shared his hatred of government in groups called Earth Militia, Total Earth Liberation and Neo Luddite Action.
Graham told police he was “left wing” but “more like an anarchist”, adding: “I don’t like the idea of a central control and I don’t really like the monarchy.”
His ideal government would be the size of “Merseyside or Liverpool”, he said, adding he supported the Green Party and was an “environmentalist” who did not like the way “corporations act and how they damage the Earth”.
He was found guilty by a jury on 23 February of one count of the preparation of terrorist acts, four counts of possession of information for terrorist purposes and two of dissemination of a terrorist publication, between May 2022 and May 2023.
Graham was cleared of one count of preparation of terrorist acts, following the five-week trial.
Student guilty of terror offences
“I think it is fair to say I was quite anti-government,” he told his trial.
“I didn’t agree with the idea of it – the way certain things were handled, the pandemic, the cost of living. I didn’t agree with a group of small people being able to make decisions that affect a mass.”
The court heard Graham came to idolise an American terrorist called Theodore Kaczynski – known as the Unabomber – after watching a Netflix series called Manhunt, and pledged to “finish what he started”.
From a remote cabin in Montana, Kaczynski carried out a 17-year mail bombing campaign, in which he targeted technology academics at universities, killing three people and injuring 23.
In his document “My Plan”, which Graham started in May 2022, he stated that he was planning a bombing campaign that would end in a shooting spree.
“I am going to attack government buildings, politicians [sic] houses, mass murder those who think it is ok to hide their wrong doings [sic] behind money and power but you cannot hide from me. I am aiming for at least 50 deceased and more injured. Any more is a blessing,” he wrote.
“I have constant anger, I am a ticking timebomb. I am not sorry for nothing.”
Graham made video diaries and said in one: “I’ve got everything I need to start my revolution.”
‘Most of us can’t afford to heat our homes… there needs to be someone to fix this’
In a video on 21 June, Graham took out a machete with a red handle and tapped the blade, saying: “Can’t end my life yet, I have so much carnage to commit.”
In another video made in his bedroom on 9 August, he said: “If terrorism is standing up for what you think is right, standing up for the working class people of this country, most of us can’t afford to heat our homes or afford food, there needs to be someone to fix this problem. It is my responsibility to do this.”
He added: “I will be a homegrown terrorist because I was born on British soil. If they want to call me a justice warrior or a hero, call me that. If they want to call me scum, call me that because I won’t be here to listen to all of it.”
In another video he threatened to attack Hugh Baird College, which he attended, saying: “I’m f****** ready, f****** bring it, I don’t care, I’ll kill every single last one of them.”
Graham had downloaded a compendium of terrorist publications including the Mujahideen Handbook and the White Resistance Manual, which he stored in a folder called “Alexandria” after the fabled ancient library.
He told his trial he felt like a character in a James Bond or Mission Impossible film or The Last Of Us, a post-apocalyptic TV show.
He said he was “doomsday prepping” for “some sort of possible invasion, civil war, martial law, natural disasters, solar flares, floods, things like that.”
William Turner is a seasoned U.K. correspondent with a deep understanding of domestic affairs. With a passion for British politics and culture, he provides insightful analysis and comprehensive coverage of events within the United Kingdom.
