Glossop terrorist who inspired American mass shooting was failed by council and parents

The case of a Glossop teenager who was jailed for encouraging far-right terrorism identified failings by his family and the local authority, a new report has claimed.

Nineteen-year-old Daniel Harris was jailed for 11 and a half years last January after encouraging terrorism and possessing material for terrorist purposes by publishing extreme far-right videos linked to suspects who were involved in two mass shootings in America.

His case was highlighted by officials, alongside those of a 15-year-old boy and a 40-year-old man, to illustrate the 'changing face of UK terrorism'.

A Derbyshire County Council meeting heard from counter-terrorism officials in the county’s Prevent and Channel operations, where councillors were told that local terrorism cases were not necessarily increasing but changing.

Alison Chandler, Prevent lead for the county council, a counter-terrorism and anti-radicalisation initiative, used five recent cases involving Derbyshire residents to showcase the different forms of issues they were finding.

Harris' case had identified “failings” by his family and the local authority and he had refused to be assessed for autism, despite clear “social problems”.

Harris uploaded racist videos calling for the "total extermination of subhumans", Manchester Crown Court heard.

They were shared by Payton Gendron, who killed 10 people in Buffalo, New York.

Harris was found guilty of terrorism offences following a trial last year. As well as serving his sentence in a young offenders institution, he must also serve three years on extended licence once released.

Ms Chandler told this week’s meeting that Harris’ case had involved extensive “disguised compliance” where he “was just telling us things we wanted to hear” and that he was aged 16 when the council’s Prevent team started engaging with him.

She said training to identify and counter disguised compliance has been rolled out following Harris’ case.

Samuel Doyle, aged 40, from Glossop, was sentenced to three years in jail last August after posting extreme racist messages online including calling for the extermination of Jewish people, joking about killing members of the LGBTQI community and promoting Adolf Hitler.

Following Doyle’s arrest in February 2022 at his home in Highfield Road, Glossop, officers uncovered more evidence of his extreme right-wing views.

His house was adorned with Nazi flags and fridge magnets, fascist and racist manifestos and books, and a portrait of Hitler.

David Bodill, aged 29, from Buxton, was jailed for two and a half years last August after downloading terrorist bomb-making manuals, buying materials used for bomb-making and downloading extremist footage from terrorist groups before going on the run in Bulgaria.

Rhianan Rudd, from Derbyshire was the youngest person charged with terror offences in the UK at aged 15 in 2020, but the prosecution was later discontinued and she took her own life in May 2022 aged 16, in a Nottinghamshire children’s home.

She had downloaded a bomb-making manual but it was found she had herself been a victim of exploitation, having been groomed by far-right American extremist Christopher Cook.

Lastly, a 15-year-old Derbyshire schoolboy, who could not be named at the time of the trial in September 2021 due to his age, by which time he was aged 16, was handed a two-year youth referral order for setting up and running an extreme right-wing terror cell, encouraging young people to commit terrorist acts.

Ms Chandler told the meeting: “It is easy to assume this doesn’t happen in Derbyshire but it is something that happens in all areas.”

Asked whether the issue was increasing, she said: “I wouldn’t say we have more cases, just different cases, and we are now more aware.

“There are different problems now, the country is in a different place and the complexity is different. 

“I wouldn’t say we have more or less cases. Some are not a huge counterterrorism risk but we know they are vulnerable and we don’t want to lose them.”

Cllr Carol Hart, the county council’s cabinet member for health and communities, said: “There are pockets that we are looking at in Derbyshire. It is experienced in lots of areas but because of the sensitivity, we won’t know an awful lot about it (as councillors). A lot happens behind the scenes that we don’t know about.”

The Derbyshire Prevent team has developed an assessment for schools to use to examine the risk of a young person who is involved in extremist behaviours which has now been rolled out nationally, the meeting was told.

Meanwhile, the authority is rolling out a workshop for parents and carers of neurodiverse young people in relation to extremist risk, following an identified higher level of risk.