102 lines
9.3 KiB
Markdown
102 lines
9.3 KiB
Markdown
---
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aliases:
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- CTP
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- Counter Terrorism Policing South West
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- Eastern Region Specialist Operation Unit Counter Terrorism Policing
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- Counter-Terrorism Policing
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category: "Intelligence & Government"
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tags:
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- Organization
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- UnitedKingdom
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- LawEnforcement
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- CounterTerrorism
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- Police
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summary: "National network of British police counter-terrorism units, with eleven regional units under a London headquarters, which investigated the 764, Fascist Forge and Feuerkrieg Division cases."
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location: "London, United Kingdom"
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created: 2026-09-24
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updated: 2026-09-24
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relations:
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- type: funded
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with: "[[Home Office]]"
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reverse: true
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start: 2016
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role: "annual police funding settlement, 564 million pounds in 2016 to 1,212 million pounds in 2027"
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fn: 3
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- type: investigated
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with: "[[Jacek Tchorzewski]]"
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start: 2019-02-20
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role: "Eastern regional unit, Schedule 7 stop at Luton Airport"
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fn: 4
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- type: investigated
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with: "[[Harry Vaughan]]"
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start: 2019-06-19
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fn: 5
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- type: investigated
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with: "[[Feuerkrieg Division]]"
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start: 2019-07
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end: 2020-07-13
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role: "arrest of the Cornwall cell leader; recommendation of proscription"
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fn: 7
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- type: investigated
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with: "[[Ben John]]"
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end: 2021-08-12
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role: "East Midlands unit, eleven-month investigation"
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fn: 8
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- type: investigated
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with: "[[Ashley Podsiad-Sharp]]"
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end: 2023-08-31
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fn: 9
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- type: investigated
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with: "[[Cameron Finnigan]]"
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start: 2024-03
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end: 2025-01-16
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fn: 10
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---
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Counter Terrorism Policing (CTP) is the network of police forces in the [[United Kingdom]] that investigates terrorism. It is not a statutory body. The [[National Police Chiefs' Council]] lists a "Section 22a agreement," a collaboration agreement under [[Police Act 1996|section 22A of the Police Act 1996]], among its pages on the network.[^1]
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### Structure
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"Around the UK there are eleven regional counter terrorism units (CTUs) and intelligence units (CTIUs), which collaborate daily to confront the threat from terrorism." At the centre is Counter Terrorism Policing Headquarters, which "devises policy and strategy, coordinates national projects and programmes, and provides a single national Counter Terrorism Policing voice," with an operations centre and a National CBRN Centre.[^2] The regional units and their forces are:[^2]
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- CTP Scotland: [[Police Scotland]]
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- CTP North East: West Yorkshire, Cleveland, Durham, Humberside, Northumbria, North Yorkshire and South Yorkshire
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- CTP North West: Greater Manchester, Cheshire, Cumbria, the [[Isle of Man]], Lancashire and Merseyside
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- CTP Wales: South Wales, Dyfed Powys, Gwent and North Wales
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- CTP West Midlands: West Midlands, Staffordshire, Warwickshire and West Mercia
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- CTP South West: Avon and Somerset, [[Devon and Cornwall Police|Devon and Cornwall]], Dorset, Gloucestershire and Wiltshire
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- CTP East Midlands: Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, Northamptonshire and Nottinghamshire
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- CTP Eastern: Bedfordshire, Essex, Hertfordshire, Norfolk, Cambridgeshire and Suffolk
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- CTP South East: Thames Valley, Hampshire, Kent, Surrey and Sussex
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- CTP London: the [[Metropolitan Police]] and the [[City of London Police]]
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- Northern Ireland: the [[Police Service of Northern Ireland]]
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### Funding
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The [[Home Office]] funds the network through the annual police funding settlement. Counter-terrorism policing funding rose from 564 million pounds in the year ending March 31, 2016, to 1,160 million pounds in the year ending March 31, 2026, and is set at up to 1,212 million pounds, including counter-terrorism pensions, for the year ending March 31, 2027, an increase of 648 million pounds (114.9 percent) in nominal terms since 2016. The smallest annual increase, one million pounds, came in the year ending March 2018 and the largest, 132 million pounds, in the year ending March 2026.[^3]
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### Cases
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On February 20, 2019, officers of the Eastern region stopped [[Jacek Tchorzewski]], 18, at [[Luton Airport]] under Schedule 7 of the [[Terrorism Act 2000]] as he was about to board a flight to [[Poland]]. His telephone held terrorist manuals and bomb-making guides; he pleaded guilty at the [[Old Bailey]] to ten counts under section 58 of the act and was sentenced on September 20, 2019, to four years.[^4]
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[[Harry Vaughan]], a student at [[Tiffin School]], was arrested on June 19, 2019, in a CTP investigation into [[Fascist Forge]], an online forum. He pleaded guilty to 14 terrorism offences and two counts of possessing indecent images and was sentenced at the Old Bailey in November 2020 by Mr Justice Sweeney to two years' detention suspended for two years.[^5]
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In July 2019 Devon and Cornwall Police and CTP South West arrested a boy in [[Cornwall]] who had posted online about building a firearm. He was identified as the head of FKD_GB, the British cell of [[Feuerkrieg Division]], which he had joined at 14, and was sentenced at the Old Bailey in February 2021 to a 24-month youth rehabilitation order. The [[Crown Prosecution Service]] called him Britain's youngest terrorist.[^6] The Home Office, acting on CTP's recommendation, proscribed Feuerkrieg Division on July 13, 2020, with effect from July 17, by SI 2020/743.[^7]
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[[Ben John]], a criminology student at [[De Montfort University]], was arrested after an eleven-month investigation by the East Midlands unit, which found a hard drive holding the Anarchy Cookbook, white supremacist and antisemitic literature, and material of the [[Order of Nine Angles]]. He was convicted at Leicester Crown Court on August 12, 2021, under section 58 of the Terrorism Act 2000.[^8] [[Ashley Podsiad-Sharp]], a prison officer at [[HMP Armley]] in Leeds, was investigated by CTP, convicted at Sheffield Crown Court of possessing terrorist material, and sentenced on August 31, 2023, by Judge [[Jeremy Richardson KC]] to eight years' imprisonment and five years' extended licence.[^9]
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CTP became aware of [[Cameron Finnigan]], a member of the [[764 Network|764]] network, in March 2024 through intelligence about his online activity. He was sentenced at the Old Bailey on January 16, 2025, by Mr Justice Jay to six years' imprisonment and three years' extended licence.[^10] CTP's statement on the sentencing described 764 as "an immense threat," with a "Satanic extremist" ideology and "militant accelerationist (extreme right wing)" characteristics.[^11]
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### Footnotes
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[^1]: National Police Chiefs' Council. "Counter Terrorism Policing," with navigation page "Section 22a agreement." Wayback Machine snapshot of January 26, 2023. https://web.archive.org/web/20230126170736/https://www.npcc.police.uk/NationalPolicing/CounterTerrorism/CounterTerrorismPolicing.aspx
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[^2]: Counter Terrorism Policing. "Our Network." https://www.counterterrorism.police.uk/what-we-do/our-network/
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[^3]: Home Office. "Police funding for England and Wales 2015 to 2027," statistical release, section 2.4.3, "Counter terrorism policing funding." https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/police-funding-for-england-and-wales-2015-to-2027/police-funding-for-england-and-wales-2015-to-2027
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[^4]: Campaign Against Antisemitism. "Hitler-loving neo-Nazi who said it was his 'dream' to create a bloodbath arrested at Luton Airport and sentenced to four years." September 2019. https://antisemitism.org/hitler-loving-neo-nazi-who-said-it-was-his-dream-to-create-a-bloodbath-arrested-at-luton-airport-and-sentenced-to-four-years-in-prison
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[^5]: ITV News London. "Teenage Satanist neo-Nazi avoids jail after admitting 14 terror offences." November 2, 2020. https://www.itv.com/news/london/2020-11-02/teenage-satanist-neo-nazi-harry-vaughan-sentenced-for-terror-offences
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[^6]: Crown Prosecution Service. "Youngest British terrorist sentenced for neo-Nazi manuals stash." https://www.cps.gov.uk/cps/news/youngest-british-terrorist-sentenced-neo-nazi-manuals-stash; Counter Terror Business. "Cornwall teenager sentenced for terrorism offences." February 2021. https://counterterrorbusiness.com/news/09022021/cornwall-teenager-sentenced-terrorism-offences
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[^7]: The Terrorism Act 2000 (Proscribed Organisations) (Amendment) (No. 2) Order 2020, SI 2020/743. https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2020/743/article/2/made; Counter Terrorism Policing. "Feuerkrieg Division (FKD) proscribed as terrorist group." July 2020. https://www.counterterrorism.police.uk/news/fkd-proscribed/
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[^8]: Greatest Hits Radio (Lincolnshire). "Lincoln 'white supremacist' convicted of terrorism offence." August 2021. https://planetradio.co.uk/lincs-fm/local/news/lincoln-white-supremacist-convicted-of-terrorism-offence/
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[^9]: R v Ashley Podsiad Sharp, sentencing remarks, Sheffield Crown Court, August 31, 2023, Judge Jeremy Richardson KC. https://www.judiciary.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/R-v-Ashley-Podsiad-Sharp.pdf
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[^10]: R v Cameron Finnigan, sentencing remarks, Central Criminal Court, January 16, 2025, Mr Justice Jay. https://www.judiciary.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/R-v-Finnigan.pdf; Sussex Police. "Man sentenced for terror offences." January 2025. https://www.sussex.police.uk/news/sussex/news/court-results/man-sentenced-for-terror-offences/
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[^11]: Counter Terrorism Policing. "Cameron Finnigan Sentencing." LinkedIn, January 2025. https://www.linkedin.com/posts/counter-terrorism-policing_cameron-finnigan-sentencing-activity-7285970499417849858-0K5p; Counter Terror Business. "'Satanist' teenager jailed for terrorism offences." January 17, 2025. https://counterterrorbusiness.com/news/17012025/satanist-teenager-jailed-terrorism-offences
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