Neo-Nazi Ethan Stables who plotted LGBT massacre pictured as a child with a gun… as former teacher admits ‘I knew where he would end up’
Ethan Stables, 20, was found guilty of plotting a machete attack on a pub's gay pride night in Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria
A NEO-Nazi who plotted an LGBT massacre has been pictured as a child with a toy gun – with a former teacher admitting: “I knew where he would end up.”
Ethan Stables, 20, was found guilty today of plotting a machete attack on a pub's gay pride night.
And one of the extremist’s former teachers, who worked at Furness Academy where he studied until he was expelled in Year 10, told the : "I always knew he'd end up in prison."
The unnamed educator said the lad was "constantly causing trouble" and “manipulating” other kids.
They recalled one “incredibly sinister” occasion where he swore in another teacher’s face.
They added: "I couldn't have predicted terrorism but I knew where he would end up."
Gun cops swooped to nab the extremist as he walked towards the New Empire in his home town of Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, last summer.
Officers had received a tip-off from a member of a far-right Facebook group where he posted a message saying he was "going to war" and would "slaughter every single one of the gay b*****ds".
Stables was unanimously found guilty of preparing an act of terrorism, making threats to kill and possessing an explosive substance in suspicious circumstances by a jury at Leeds Crown Court.
He was unarmed when he was arrested on June 23, but police found an axe and a machete at his home, his trial heard.
The jury was shown a video of him burning a rainbow flag and posing next to a swastika hanging on his bedroom wall.
He had espoused homophobic, racist and Nazi views online, the court was told.
Giving evidence, Stables, who has been diagnosed with Asperger syndrome, claimed he was a just fantasist and was himself bisexual.
He denied he was doing a "recce" of the venue when he was arrested, and said he was heading out to sit outside the job centre to use the free public WiFi.
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Following his conviction, his barrister Patrick Upward QC told the Recorder of Leeds, Judge Peter Collier QC, that Stables led a "melancholy life" up to the day of his arrest and lived in "almost squalid conditions".
He said Stables' problems could have made him an "open goal" for people who "peddle the sort of ideas that he adopted".
Judge Collier further remanded Stables in custody ahead of sentencing on Wednesday.
He told the defendant: "I do need to give this a lot of careful thought to come to an appropriate sentence."
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