A MAN who encouraged others to carry out violent attacks in response to the British Government’s handling of the Covid-19 pandemic has been convicted of terrorism offences.
Patrick Ruane, 55, of west London, was found guilty at the Old Bailey on Friday, September 13, of two counts of encouragement of terrorism.
Ruane belonged to Telegram groups that believed in a large-scale conspiracy theory that Covid-19 and subsequent vaccines were government fabrications designed for population control.
“This is a dangerous man who was prolific in encouraging violence because of his firmly held beliefs in a conspiracy theory,” said Bethan David, Head of the Counter Terrorism Division at the Crown Prosecution Service.
Extremist posts
In 2021, detectives from the Met’s Counter Terrorism Command became concerned over a series of extremist posts on social media, which they linked to Ruane.
He was arrested in November 2021 at his flat in west London, where officers seized a number of electronic devices.
Analysis of the devices found that Ruane had posted in various groups which were opposed to the government’s policies in relation to Covid-19 and the vaccination rollout.
Among his posts were a large number of messages where he had actively encouraged people to commit acts of violence and overthrow the government due to his dislike of the policies.
Detectives found posts where Ruane was encouraging others to target staff linked to pharmaceutical companies producing the Covid-19 vaccinations.
He also posted about targeting MPs and police, as well as bombing vaccine laboratories and 5G infrastructure.
In reviewing Ruane’s messages, officers identified and evidenced more than 370 posts which demonstrated his extremist views over a 10-month period between January and November 2021.
Ruane was charged in August 2023 with two counts of encouragement of terrorism and one count of possessing a document useful for terrorism.
He was found guilty in respect of the two counts of encouraging terrorism and was found not guilty in relation to the other charge.
‘Credible threat’
“During a time when the nation was suffering a devastating pandemic and many lost loved ones, Patrick Ruane was using Telegram to spread false and damaging information and encourage violence and terrorism,” said Ms David.
“He posed a credible threat to the peace and safety of the public, and it is only right that he has been found guilty.”
Gareth Rees, Acting Commander of the Met’s Counter Terrorism Command, said Ruane’s posts were not just ‘idle chit-chat’.
“Our investigation found large numbers of posts by Ruane where he was encouraging others to carry out extremely violent acts, all because he didn’t like the government’s response to the pandemic,” he said.
“This wasn’t idle chit-chat online — he was encouraging people to seriously injure or kill others, suggesting who to target.”
Ruane is due to be sentenced at the Old Bailey on Friday, November 8.