Lone wolves: myth or reality?

Profiles
Ian Davison
Nicky Davison
The UK’s far-right ‘terrorists’ and would-be ‘terrorists’
Age 41
Occupation Unemployed lorry
driver and part-time pub DJ
Address Myrtle Grove,
Burnopfield, County Durham
Politics Aryan Strike Force
Convictions Producing a
chemical weapon (ricin) under
the Chemical Weapons Act
1996, preparing acts of
terrorism, possessing material
useful to commit acts of terror
(3 counts), possessing a
prohibited weapon
Sentence Ten years in custody
Age 19
Occupation Milkman
Address Annfield Plain,
County Durham
Politics Aryan Strike Force
Conviction Possessing
material useful for acts of
terror
Sentence Two years in a
young offenders’ institution
Ian Davison was arrested in June
2009 when Durham Police was
informed by another police force
of the online activities of the
Aryan Strike Force (ASF). A search
of his home uncovered ricin
together with terror manuals
and pipe bombs. He became the
first person in Britain to be
sentenced under the Chemical
Weapons Act 1996 for producing a
chemical weapon.
Found in a sealed jam jar, the
ricin was a cloudy liquid that
had been extracted from castor
beans. An amount roughly
equivalent to a few grains of
salt is enough to kill an adult,
making it 1,000 times more
poisonous than cyanide. The
amount in the jar was enough to
kill up to 15 people. The ricin was
thought to have been produced in
2006 or early 2007 and lain
undisturbed in Davison’s kitchen
ever since.
The trial of Ian Davison and his
son Nicky Davison at Newcastle
Crown Court in May 2010 heard
different views about whether the
pair were simply “keyboard
warriors” or whether they posed a
genuine threat to the public.
Peter Carter QC, defending Nicky
Davison, dismissed his client’s
father as “a monstrous dreamer”
and told the court: “This is
terrorism as a fantasy, not as a
reality.” However Detective
Superintendent Neil Malkin, who
led the investigation, said of Ian
Davison: “I think he is a real
danger. There was a pipe bomb
and the ricin and these are the
tools of a terrorist. There is no
question in my mind that at
some stage they would have
carried out their intention to cause
serious violence.”
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