Nadine Osman

Two hosts of a neo-Nazi podcast series that encouraged listeners to commit violent acts against ethnic minorities were convicted of terrorism offences following a trial at Kingston Crown Court on July 7.

Christopher Gibbons, 40, and Tyrone Patten-Walsh, 35, aired their Islamophobic, homophobic, racist, antisemitic, and misogynistic views on their Black Wolf Radio podcast, and on occasions, they encouraged listeners to go out and commit acts of terrorist violence.

Between March 3, 2019, and February 9, 2020, the pair from London aired 21 episodes of the show, which were viewed more than 152,000 times by over 1,000 subscribers.

Patten-Walsh, a former UKIP council candidate from Romford, and Gibbons from Carshalton, south London, also glorified Brenton Tarrant, who went on a shooting spree in 2019 when he killed 51 Muslim men, women, and children at two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand.

Gibbons had also created an online library containing hundreds of extreme right-wing texts and other material. The content in the online library and podcast was assessed, and some material was found to be in breach of terrorism legislation.

They were subsequently arrested on May 18, 2021. Commander Dominic Murphy, who leads the Metropolitan Police Counter Terrorism Command, said, “Gibbons and Patten-Walsh thought that the fact they were airing their hateful views and advocating terrorist acts in plain sight, on a radio and podcast platform, somehow gave them some legitimacy and meant they would not face any consequences.”

They were wrong, and both our investigation and a jury have found that they sought to encourage terrorism in how they expressed their abhorrent, extreme right-wing views.

During the investigation, detectives reviewed hundreds of hours of material, and the result of their work was the compelling case that was presented in court, which resulted in their convictions.

“If you come across extremist content online, report it to the police, and we will act. Information from the public is vitally important in our fight against terrorism.”

The videos and files were analysed by a team of specialist officers from the Met’s Counter Terrorism Internet Referral Unit, and they assessed that they were in breach of terrorism legislation. Amongst them, officers identified seven videos and a further document that, as well as containing extremist views, contained imagery, rhetoric, or information that encouraged others to carry out terrorist acts.

Both men went on trial for eight counts of encouraging acts of terrorism (contrary to Section 1 of the Terrorism Act 2006)—each count relates to a different podcast episode. Gibbons also went on trial for two counts of dissemination of terrorist publications (contrary to Section 2 of the Terrorism Act 2006). They were found guilty of all charges. The pair have been remanded in custody to be sentenced on September 26.

Photo: Tyrone Patten-Walsh, 40 (left) and Christopher Gibbons, 35 (Credit: Met Police)