Terrorist who wanted to “topple the government because it was dominated by Jews” jailed

A conspiracy theorist who wanted to launch terror attacks and overthrow the British government because he believed it was run by “a Jewish elite” has been found guilty at his trial in Birmingham and jailed.

Oliver Lewin, 38, planned to attack phone, radio and TV masts and damage the road system in his plot to cause mass chaos and fear which he hoped would topple the government.

Lewin, of Ferrers Road, Coalville, was sentenced to six and a half years after he planned to mount widespread coordinated attacks over a number of months including recruiting others to help his plan because of a mistrust of authority.

The court was told that Lewin believed the British government – led by Boris Johnson at the time – was “run by a Jewish eleite”.

Speaking about Lewin’s repugnant antisemitism – and his terrorist intentions – prosecutor Annabel Darlow KC outlined the shocking case during the trial: “By 2021, Oliver Lewin was deeply opposed to the government of the United Kingdom.

“Mr Lewin, in fact, stated his goal was to topple the British government.

“He believed that it was dominated by a Jewish elite who took orders from Israel.”

Lewin used social media as a “call to arms” to like-minded individuals to help create a national network of those sharing his vile antisemitic ideology and carry out coordinated attacks against the government.

The conspiracy theorist also believed that the coronavirus vaccine would result in mass deaths across the country.

Nick Price, from the Crown Prosecution Service, said that Lewin’s wild and unfounded allegations were “extremely dangerous”.

The extremist used social media to identify and recruit like-minded individuals to help via a Telegram group called The Resistance UK which has over 8,000 members.

He advised potential recruits to his cause to arm themselves and carry machetes as a basic requirement.

One of Lewin’s chilling posts to the group read: “We are at war people, make no mistake. You have to treat it like one.”

In a notebook kept by Lewin – which he entitled Civilian Resistance Operations Manuel – he wrote: “The ideal primary objective would be to topple the government and all within it.”

The fanatic also claimed he was ex-military and spent a lot of time writing a manual to train others.

The terrorist had previously worked as an AV engineer installing and maintaining radio masts, carried out meticulous research online into systems to identify weaknesses of the masts. He also carried out on site research during reconnaissance missions in his local area.

In August 2021, he built a hideout so he could hide from a police helicopter and planned to damage a culvert which disrupted water flow underneath the M1 motorway. He carried out training exercises, taught himself to walk in the dark and how to avoid travelling by road at night.

Lewin was arrested on 25 August 2022 for preparing to commit an act of terrorism. Following his arrest, police seized a large amount of tools and army surplus combat gear as well as weapon accessories to accompany the three rifles he owned.

Officers also seized rifles and ammunition, pistol, BB gun, a walkie talkie and binoculars as well as an army surplus rucksack that was packed with equipment.

Detective Chief Superintendent Mark Payne, Head of Counter Terrorism Policing West Midlands, said: “He (Lewin) wanted to advance a political cause by damaging property and wiping out media organisations.

“Extremists use this kind of ideology to create discord, distrust and fear among our communities and we strive to counter this.”