A member of the neo-nazi Patriotic Alternative has been convicted of attempted murder after admitting trying to cut a man’s head off with an axe.
Alina Burns was 18 when she targeted Mohammed Mahmoodi, an Iranian Kurd, as he stood outside a barber’s shop in Bedminster, Bristol, on 2 August last year. She had purchased the axe from a local Screwfix branch that same morning.
Blade swung
CCTV captured Mahmoodi, 27, ducking at the last second as the blade swung toward his neck. He managed to wrestle the weapon from her before she could strike again, suffering only scratches.
Burns was arrested shortly afterwards by officers patrolling nearby. A scalpel and several darts were found on her.
Asked by the arresting officer why she had done it, Burns replied: “I wanted to cut his neck.”
Not spontaneous
Bristol Crown Court was told by the prosecution that Burns was a member of PA and that the attack was far from spontaneous.
In the days beforehand, Burns had searched online for guidance on buying and using an axe, and had watched videos about Patrick Crusius, the perpetrator of the 2019 El Paso Walmart massacre in which 23 people died.
She also viewed graphic footage of a fatal stabbing. An email written to herself on the eve of the attack and titled “The dawn of civil war” declared that land “is reclaimed through terror” and that it was “better if they flee out of fear.”
Burns had separately written to an associate urging them to “kill all Jews and Muslims in Britain.” Her private notebooks contained extensive material on Hitler and German military history.
Embodiment of hell
In messages recovered by police she described herself as “the embodiment of hell, destined to annihilate everything holy I bear witness to”, adding that she wanted “all the credit and glory” for what she was planning.
Prosecutor Serena Gates KC told the court that Burns harboured “a desire for a white England, achieved, if necessary, through terror.”
Burns’s membership of Patriotic Alternative will place renewed scrutiny on the organisation, which has faced repeated calls for proscription following a series of cases involving its members in terrorism and hate crime proceedings.
Founded by neo-nazi activist Mark Collett, it is led by him and Laura Towler whose husband Sam Melia has just been released from prison after serving 10 months of a 2 year sentence for inciting racial hatred.
Contests motive
During a mental health assessment, Burns was asked how she felt about facing an attempted murder charge. She said “fair enough.” When asked about future intentions, she stated she would “go on again but to succeed.” She also asked whether the attack had made the news.
Burns pleaded guilty to attempted murder and three counts of carrying a bladed weapon in a public place. She contests the terrorist motive, a matter the judge will determine at sentencing, currently scheduled for May.
Calls for ban
That ruling will carry implications well beyond Burns herself, bearing directly on the long-running debate over whether Patriotic Alternative should be banned outright.
Obviously panicking at the scrutiny the case has attracted and threatens to attract, PA have issued a statement today denying that she was even a member and condemning her actions.
These, they say laughably, go against their Code of Conduct which “strictly forbids the endorsement or glorification of either violence or terrorism”.
This may come as a surprise to Ashley-Podsiad Sharp (above left) and Kris Kearney (above right), both PA members who have been jailed for terrorism offemces but neither of whom have been disowned by the organsiation.
