Young people left isolated during lockdowns are being drawn to far-Right terrorism, police say

Lonely young people left isolated during the pandemic are more likely to be drawn to terrorism, say police.

The warning came after the amount of extreme Right-wing material flagged up to investigators rose by 43 per cent.

The Counter-Terrorism Internet Referral Unit (CTIRU) has been told about 3,000 pieces of suspected terrorist content this year, up from 2,796 in 2019 – an increase of about 7 per cent.

But the number of referrals of Right-wing content rose from 134 last year to 192 between January and November 20 this year.

And the number of under-18s arrested for terrorism offences rose from 11 in the year ending September 2019 to 17 in 2020.

Detective Chief Superintendent Kevin Southworth, from the CTIRU, which is run by the Metropolitan Police, said the data indicates that one unforeseen consequence of the pandemic and lockdown restrictions could be that more young people are radicalised.

‘There has been a slight shift during the pandemic, which may reflect people being at home more, and perhaps spending more time online,’ he said.

‘Perhaps in some instances, sadly, people who have less people to speak to are perhaps recoursing to online media for greater quantities of their time because they’ve been stuck in self-isolation or lacking people to come into contact with.’

A website and helpline called Act Early has been set up to encourage adults to report signs of young people at risk of being radicalised. 

The CTIRU published a blog by one of its sergeants, identified only as Paul, on Monday, who warned parents that their children may be viewing terrorist material online during the Christmas break.

He wrote: ‘It would be misguided to think that the youngsters finding terrorist propaganda online and being sucked in by its eye-catching graphics and false promises of martyrdom are archetypical terrorist ‘suspects’.

‘They’re not – they vary by gender and ethnic background; some are high-achievers at school, others not so; some are from impoverished backgrounds, others more fortunate.

‘They’re sons, daughters, siblings and friends – possibly yours, though you may not like to think it.’

Between January 1 2019 and June 30, 2020, around 1,500 children aged 15 and under were identified as being at risk of radicalisation as part of the Government Prevent scheme.

Mr Southworth said: ‘There’s perhaps a challenge that young people face in the modern age that we didn’t face when we were younger.

‘We are in the digital age now where everyone has access to copious quantities of open source material, and if you are a youngster in the middle of a global pandemic like this who’s spending a long time online perhaps with less human contact than you might normally enjoy, especially if you’re someone who has any other underlying vulnerability or perhaps a mental health illness, then there’s always that chance that you may be drawn to extreme material.’