A British Nazi sympathiser was detained by a court in a hospital indefinitely on Thursday for targeting a Muslim immigration lawyer with a knife to show his support for fellow far-right extremists.
Cavan Medlock, 32, took a knife, handcuffs, a Nazi flag and a Confederate flag to the London office of law firm Duncan Lewis in September 2020 and demanded to see Toufique Hossain, the firm’s head of public law.
Hossain has represented claimants in a number of high-profile court cases, including legal challenges to Britain’s controversial plan to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda.
Prosecutors said Medlock intended to restrain Hossain and display the two flags in the office’s windows as a “rallying cry” for others with extreme right-wing views.
Medlock was disarmed by a receptionist and held by staff until police arrived.
He later told police that he had targeted Hossain after reading an online Daily Mail article.
A spokesperson for DMG Media, which publishes the Daily Mail and MailOnline, said in a statement: “The Mail gives no support to terrorists, whatever their politics.
“The article referenced in this case was a legitimate piece of investigative journalism in the public interest and the law firm involved was quoted so their view would be represented.”
As Medlock was assessed as not fit to stand trial, the jury was asked to find whether he had committed the acts rather than deliver a verdict of guilty or not guilty.
Earlier this week, a jury at Kingston Crown Court found Medlock had made a threat to kill Hossain and prepared a terrorist act.
Judge Joel Bennathan said Medlock’s actions were “a direct and disgraceful attack on decent, hard-working people doing important and honourable work”.
Bethan David, head of the Crown Prosecution Service’s Counter Terrorism Division, said Medlock had a clear terrorist ideology.
“His plan was designed to intimidate immigrants to the UK and their families, and involved the use, or at least the threat, of serious violence,” David said. “It was only the brave actions of the receptionist at the law firm which prevented his plan from being carried out.”
(With inputs from Reuters)
