Self-declared Satanist jailed for 2 years on terrorism charges

A former pupil at Croydon’s BRIT School has been sentenced to almost two years in prison after being found guilty of having what the Met Police have described as “extreme right-wing material” on his phone.

Declan George-Candiani, 26, a self-proclaimed Satanist who claimed he made a pact with a “red-horned devil”, was given a 23-month sentence at the Old Bailey last week, where the judge ordered he serve an additional year on licence. He will also be subject to notification requirements for 10 years.

George-Candiani was stopped at Stansted Airport by counter-terror officers on August 13, 2024.

After a search through his phone, he was arrested. A further search of his home, in Streatham, which he shared with his mother, led to an iPad being seized as evidence.

An examination of George-Candiani’s devices revealed a cache of extreme right-wing material including “manifestos” of mass killers, guides on how to commit “lone wolf” attacks, and documents advocating the use of serious violence to achieve “white supremacy”, the court at the Old Bailey was told during his trial.

George-Candiani told officers that he started to access the material after he developed an interest in an extreme right-wing group advocating “traditional Satanism”.

Commander Dominic Murphy, head of Counter Terrorism Policing London, said: “This is another example of why ‘Schedule 7’ powers at our ports and borders are so important in helping us to identify potential terrorist activity.

“In this case, analysis of digital devices revealed downloads of horrific material promoted by extreme right-wing terrorist groups, as well as extremely dangerous material about carrying out attacks and other acts of extreme violence.”

In police interview, George-Candiani claimed he had a “possessed mindset” and said he had made a “pact with the devil” to be a “minion”.

He also claimed to officers that he had developed an “unhealthy obsession” with the ideology and that it had “overpowered” him in a way he could not control.

George-Candiani was convicted on October 3 of two counts of collection of material likely to be of use to a terrorist under S58(1) of the Terrorism Act 2000. The jury found him not guilty of two further counts of the same offence.

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