Teenager accused of making bomb parts in his bedroom was ‘big fan of Hitler’

A 19-year-old on trial for experimenting with homemade bombs and sharing extreme content online was ‘a big fan of Hitler’, a court heard.

Rex Clark, who is also accused of trying to buy a handgun, spread terrorist materials online, including videos glorifying right-wing terrorist killers Anders Breivik, Brenton Tarrant, and Stephan Balliet.

The ‘avid internet user’, who was between 17 and 18 at the time of the alleged offences, shared his ‘extreme right-wing interests’ with his girlfriend Sofija Vinogradova, prosecutor Louis Mably KC told jurors on Monday.

‘The two of them would discuss their ideology, their ideas, and in this way seemed to spur each other on,’ said Mr Mably, opening the trial at Kingston Crown Court in London..

‘He experimented with making parts of explosive devices – in other words, experimented with making parts for homemade bombs, materials found in his bedroom at the time of his arrest.

‘He was a big fan of Hitler and in practice this involved a keen interest in, and a habit of glorifying, extreme violence – including mass killing – which he no doubt believed would advance this extreme, anti-democratic view.’

According to the prosecution, between June 1 2024 and August 10 2024 Clark and Vinogradova attempted to buy a Glock self-loading handgun, which are used by police forces and military around the world.

There is no suggestion Clark, from Ilford, east London, planned to use the gun for terrorist purposes, Mr Mably told jurors, and the seller they contacted never actually had a handgun to sell.

However, he said the content Clark is accused of sharing online could have encouraged others to commit acts of terrorism.

‘Now, it is not a crime to be a neo-Nazi, or to believe in extreme ideologies – right-wing ideologies or, indeed, any extreme ideology,” Mr Mably told jurors.

‘Very often these are people sitting in their bedrooms, behind keyboards, talking rubbish – and certainly the defendant was one of those people.

‘But the more immediate concern is that when people believe, and then spread the idea, that violence is justified and necessary, others may be prepared to take up that idea, and actually carry out violence – killing people to advance an ideology.

‘He (Clark) promoted and glorified not just extreme right wing politics and ideology, but terrorism – in particular, he promoted and glorified mass killings of innocent people, not just in the abstract, but which had been carried out in Europe and in New Zealand by neo-Nazis.

‘And by doing so what he was doing was offering encouragement to others to do similar things.’

Among the content Clark allegedly shared was a video name ‘St Breivik Edit’, about the Norwegian mass murderer Anders Breivik who killed 77 people, 33 of them under 18, in 2011.

Another video featured white supremist Brenton Tarrant who stormed two mosques in New Zealand in 2019 and killed 51 people.

Police arrested Clark on August 10 last year, carrying out a search of his home the same day.

They found what appeared to be pieces of improvised explosive devices that had been prepared by the defendant in his bedroom, Mr Mably told the court.

‘Now, there was no actual explosive material within these parts – they were not capable of detonation,’ the prosecutor said.

‘But what appears to have happened is that the defendant was experimenting in with homemade bombs and devices.’

Clark denies one count of attempting to purchase a firearm, and six counts of dissemination of terrorist publications between October 2023 and the summer of 2024.

The trial continues.

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