UK rightwing extremist pleads guilty to terrorism offences for inciting migrant killings

Ivan Jennings, 46, from Stafford, pleaded guilty to encouraging terrorism between 15 August and 14 November 2024 at Leicester Crown Court on Monday.

The prosecutor, Lee Ingham, told the Old Bailey in January that Jennings had called for “killing migrants when they arrive on their boats” and discussed molotov cocktails. Jennings had previously pleaded guilty to dissemination of a terrorism publication at a hearing in August. That charge related to a manifesto written by Anders Breivik, who killed 77 people in terror attacks in Norway in 2011.

Jennings denied possession of a document for terrorist purposes, namely Brenton Tarrant's racist manifesto, on 14 November 2024. Judge Andrew Lockhart KC said the possession count would lie on the file at sentencing on 4 September at Leicester Crown Court. Jennings remains on conditional bail.

Last month the Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre (JTAC) raised the UK national threat level from “substantial” to “severe”. The Home Office said: “The terrorist threat level in the UK has been rising for some time, driven by an increase in the broader Islamist and extreme rightwing terrorist threat from individuals and small groups based in the UK.”

In the year to March 2025, 8,778 referrals were made to Prevent, the government’s anti-terrorism programme, 27% more than the previous year and the highest number of referrals in a single year since records began 10 years ago. Of the 8,769 referrals where the type of concern was specified, 21% (1,798 cases) were due to extreme rightwing concerns, 10% (870 cases) were referrals connected to Islamist ideology, and 56% (4,917 cases) were for individuals judged to have no identified ideology.