VIDEO: Dramatic arrest in Lowestoft

31 July 2009

DRAMATIC details surrounding the arrest in Lowestoft of a jobless man, who has been convicted of a series of terrorist offences, emerged this week.

And The Journal can today reveal that after Neil Lewington was picked up by police at the town's railway station it triggered a chain of events.

The 44-year-old white supremacist had travelled by train from Reading to meet a woman he had met on an internet dating site called “Hot or Not.”

The woman turned out to be Stephanie Alam, from Lowestoft. But the pair's scheduled meeting at the station was ended before it had even begun as Lewington was taken bundled off to Lowestoft police station.

He had drank cans of lager and was verbally abusive to other passengers and the guards on the journey to Lowestoft. And when he got off the train he urinated in public before being arrested by officers who had been called to the station.

This dramatic footage can today be seen for the first time on The Journal's website www.lowestoftjournal24.co.uk

It was while Lewington was being booked in at Lowestoft police station on October 30, last year, that officers searched him and in a blue bag he was carrying it was found he had component parts for two improvised incendiary devices, consisting of two digital clocks, batteries and wiring; two cling-filmed wrapped blocks of 12 firelighters, each containing an igniter and booster tube; a screwdriver and two metal-hooked instruments; a mobile phone containing racist images; keys to his home and toolboxes later found in his bedroom; handwritten notes which included device details and a list of materials.

An explosive ordinance disposal officer examined the contents of the bag and made them safe.

The following day, Thames Valley police began searching Lewington's home in Tilehurst, Reading, but stopped for safety reasons because of what they found. An explosive ordinance disposal officer went to the house and detectives from the Metropolitan Police's Counter Terrorism Command were also contacted.

Lewington was interviewed in Lowestoft and denied having explosives or detonators as he told officers that he intended to use the devices in the bag to ignite fireworks he planned to buy in the town.

Due to the material found in the bag and at Lewington's home the investigation was taken over by the Met's Counter Terrorism Command and on November 1 detectives arrested him under the Terrorism Act 2000.

Metropolitan Police were granted a search warrant under the Terrorism Act 2000 and they found a wide range of items in Lewington's home, which included a cache of components and material, which could be used to make incendiary and explosive devices. Police also found information on how to make devices, a handwritten booklet called: “Waffen SS UK Members Handbook” and far right extremist material.

“From time to time threats emerge from right wing extremists who are intent on undermining community cohesion in London and elsewhere in the UK,” DAC John McDowall, head of the Met's Counter Terrorism Command and senior national co-ordinator counter terrorism, told The Journal.

“Neil Lewington clearly set out to make viable devices which could have seriously injured or possibly killed members of the public. Whilst our inquiries did not uncover any details about intended targets, we do not underestimate the impact that Lewington's actions and extremist beliefs may have had on communities nationwide,” he added.

“We treat right wing extremism as seriously as any other form of violent extremism and will continue to investigate such activity with the same determination in order to keep all communities safe.”

Lewington denied eight charges - including preparing for terrorism - but on July 15, was found guilty by a jury at the Old Bailey. He was remanded in custody and will be sentenced on September 8.