And that’s just what his lawyer called him, as he attempted to save Neil Lewington from a
terrorist conviction. He failed:
Neil Lewington, 43, had been developing a bomb-making factory in his bedroom in Tilehurst, Reading, the trial heard.
He was carrying components for two home-made bombs when arrested last October in Lowestoft, Suffolk.
Sentencing was adjourned until 8 September, but Judge Peter Thornton said a lengthy jail term was likely.
“Neil Lewington clearly set out to make viable devices which could have seriously injured or possibly killed members of the public going about their daily lives,” said Metropolitan Police Deputy Assistant Commissioner John McDowall.
Lewington’s arrest on a train at Lowestoft station was by chance, after he had been abusing a female train conductor.
A search of his bag uncovered the home-made bombs.
The fact that Lewington was such an utter loser shouldn’t obscure the potential danger he represented. He’s the archetypical example of the socalled “lone wolf”, the rightwing extremist unconnected to any terrorist groups, but inspired by the ideology to fight the “race war” on his own. The lone wolf idea was first developed in the United States, where there’s a long tradition of white supremacist terrorism (Ku Klux Klan anyone?), as a counter against increasing police attention to rightwing terrorism. Unlike traditional terrorism where the idea is to put political pressure on a government, this kind of rightwing terrorism is just to kill as many non-whites as possible in the hope of starting the “race war” these people have wet dreams about. While that goal is largely a non-starter, the real danger is the inspiration it gives people like Lewington, as well as the notorious nail bomber David Copeland. Because they operate on their own, they’re much more difficult to detect than traditional terrorist groups: no chatter, no need for meetings, nothing to give them away.