A nazi-sympathiser from West Yorkshire has been sentenced to more than four years in prison after pleading guilty to a series of terrorist offences.
36-year-old Tygue Crowther was convicted of encouraging terrorism, disseminating a terrorist publication and six counts of possessing documents likely to be useful to a terrorist.
He was arrested in June 2024 and during a house search, police discovered that Crowther had “a library of terrorist publications” on his digital devices.
Advocated volence
Between October 2023 and June 2024 had also used his account on X (formerly known as Twitter) to post material that advocated violence against non-white people and expressed support for neo-Nazi groups.
Prosecutors told Newcastle Crown Court that his posts “voiced or implied support for the eradication of immigrants and non-whites” and included graphic videos depicting attacks on ethnic minorities.
Crowther also used other channels such as the encrypted messaging service Telegram to share bomb-making manuals and circulated images of neo-Nazi stickers in a local playground.
‘Vermin’
His profile described himself as a “British, National Socialist, Accelerationist,” rejecting immigration and multiculturalism and advocating direct action against those he regarded as “vermin”.
Crowther actively sought to form a group he called the “United Whites Battalion” (UWB), publicly inviting others to join and echoing extremist recruitment strategies seen internationally.
The profile imagery included symbols associated with white supremacist and neo-Nazi movements, including coded references such as “1488” and the words “Heil Hitler”.
Endangered life
Judge Nathan Adams ruled that Crowther’s conduct had “encouraged violence endangering life” by disseminating graphic praise of violence towards minorities and promoting an extremist ideology.
In mitigation, Crowther claimed to a probation officer that he had been “preyed on by people on the far-right” and had become isolated after his wife left him years earlier. The judge acknowledged his mental health struggles but found no clear causal link between these issues and his offending.
