Ben John, 22, has been sentenced to an immediate prison term
after the Solicitor General, QC MP personally presented the
case at the Court of Appeal.
On 7 January 2020, Lincolnshire Police searched John’s home and
seized several electronic devices including a phone and hard
drives. Police found tens of thousands of politically extreme and
far-right documents and files. This included white nationalist
and anti-Semitic materials.
Amongst the materials, Lincolnshire Police found a copy of the
‘Anarchy Cookbook’, a book containing instructions for the
manufacture of explosives and rudimentary weapons. John was found
guilty of one count of possessing information likely to be useful
to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism.
On 31 August 2021, John was sentenced to 2 years’ imprisonment,
suspended for 2 years, at Leicester Crown Court.
Following the sentence, the Solicitor General referred John’s
sentence to the Court of Appeal under the Unduly Lenient Sentence
(ULS) scheme.
On 19 January, the Court of Appeal found his original sentence to
be unduly lenient and increased it to 2 years’ imprisonment with
a 1 year licence period.
Speaking after the hearing, the Solicitor General, QC MP said:
The Government is committed to confronting terrorism in all its
forms, including from the Extreme Right Wing. We remain focussed
on disrupting the activities of the most dangerous extremists,
supporting those who stand up to their hateful rhetoric, and
protecting vulnerable people being drawn into terrorism.
I referred Ben John’s sentence to the Court of Appeal, and chose
to personally present it, because I believed it to be unduly
lenient. I am pleased that the Court of Appeal agreed and chose
to increase his sentence today.
