Coalville man convicted after sharing deadly terror attack footage and saying he would 'love' to do same

Hermitage Road
Griffiths of Hermitage Road, Whitwick will be sentenced in June -Credit:Google


A Leicestershire man who shared footage of a terrorist attack that killed 51 people and said he would “love” to do the same has been found guilty of encouraging terrorism. Edward Griffiths, of Whitwick, near Coalville, shared videos of the March 2019 attack at a mosque in Christchurch, New Zealand.

The 44-year-old said he would “like” to go on a killing spree and talked about different people he would have liked to kill, Leicestershire Police said. He also called the attacker a “hero” in a social media post, it added.

It said the offences were committed by Griffiths, of Hermitage Road, between November 2021 and June 2022. Following an investigation, officers from Counter Terrorism Policing East Midlands executed a warrant in June 2022 which led to Griffiths being arrested at his home.

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Griffiths admitted being the user of various social media profiles but mostly answered "no comment" in interviews, said the force. In a later interview, Griffiths said sending the video around was wrong, that he had shared it with a few close friends and that he had been going through a bad time in his life during the Covid pandemic, said police.

Griffiths was charged in May last year and, following a trial at Birmingham Crown Court, was yesterday (Wednesday May 15) found guilty of one count of encouragement of terrorism and of two counts of dissemination of a terrorist publication. Detective Inspector Glynn Jehu, from Counter Terrorism Policing East Midlands, said after the verdicts: “Fifty one people lost their lives in the Christchurch attacks. Spreading messages of extreme hate and violence in the way that Griffiths did is dangerous, reckless and could easily have encouraged others to commit an act of terrorism.

“It was therefore important that we stopped this by acting on information received, investigating the communications fully and bringing Griffiths before the courts.” Griffiths was remanded into custody and is due to be sentenced on Friday, June 7.