Aberdeenshire man to stand trial on terrorism charges

A man accused of terrorism charges will go on trial later this year at the High Court in Aberdeen.

Connor Ward , 24, is charged with possessing a cache of weapons, manuals, racist flags and videos with the intention of committing acts of terror.

It is alleged he had in his possession a quantity of neo-Nazi, anti-Muslim and anti-Jewish texts, images, videos, flags and audio files, and knives, knuckledusters, batons, a stun gun, a mobile phone signal jammer, a bug detection device, a catapult and ball, a ninja star, rocket tubes and a battle club.

Prosecutors further claim that Ward had steel ball bearings and instructions on how to use them to prepare an improvised explosive device and had downloaded material on how to reactivate deactivated bullets.

It is also alleged he had manuals showing how to manufacture explosives and chemical and biological poisons. It is also claimed he had the address of every mosque in Aberdeen.

This offence under the 2006 Terrorism Act is alleged to have been committed between February 26, 2011 and November 21, 2014, in Banff, Aberdeenshire.

He has also been charged, under the 200 Terrorism Act, of collecting or recording information likely to be useful to anyone committing or preparing to commit an act of terrorism.

It is alleged he did this by downloading files,about making firearms, manufacturing explosives and producing and using chemical and biological poisons, onto a hard drive, a flash drive, a pen drive memory stick and laptop computer.

This offence is also alleged to have been committed between February 26, 2011 and November 21, 2014 at the same two addresses in Banff.

Ward , who is described on the indictment as a prisoner in Grampian prison, was not in court for the hearing,

Ward, who is represented by defence counsel Drew McKenzie, denies the charges against him.

Judge Lord Burns said: “I will fix the trial diet for November 6 at the High Court at Aberdeen.”