Man who attacked police with Molotov cocktails had been referred to Prevent
A man who attacked officers outside a police station had been referred to the Prevent anti-terrorism programme a year earlier by his sister, a court heard.
Armed with Molotov cocktails and a hatchet, Alexander Dighton, 28, knocked one officer unconscious and stabbed another in the leg when he launched an attack on Talbot Green Police Station in Rhondda Cynon Taf, South Wales, on Jan 31.
In a police interview, Dighton, from Pontyclun, said he did not consider the scope of damage, 'merely that blood had to be spilt'.
He previously pleaded guilty to 10 charges relating to the incident, and he was sentenced to 22 years in prison.
At the sentencing hearing at the Old Bailey on Friday, Judge Mark Lucraft KC heard Dighton had been referred to Prevent a year before the attack.
Prosecutor Nicholas Hearn said: 'On January 5 2024, the defendant was reported to Prevent by his sister, who stated her brother holds racist and anti-Muslim views and is likely to be involved with incel groups.
'She also stated that he is vulnerable as he has gone missing previously and has attempted suicide.'
The incel movement is made up of people who find themselves unsuccessful in relationships, often harbouring extreme and misogynistic views.
On the night of the attack, Dighton arrived at the police station shortly before 7pm, where he lit a petrol bomb and threw it at a police van.
When that failed to ignite, he attempted to start a fire by pouring lighter fluid over the van before smashing the windows of two vehicles using a pole.
When confronted by officers, Dighton said: 'I'm fed up, I'm done,' before launching his attack.
Attempts to restrain him using a Taser were unsuccessful because of the body armour he was wearing.
He swung a pole at one officer, punched one in the head and stabbed another in the thigh, narrowly missing his femoral artery.
Two of the three injured officers were taken to hospital for treatment.
The court also heard Dighton had recently been involved in an altercation with his neighbour, during which he used a homophobic slur.
A week before the incident, he had received a letter from the police telling him to attend a police station to provide biometric samples in relation to the alleged public order offence.
In a police interview after the attack, he said that he expected officers to go to his home to attempt to arrest him for not providing a sample.
'Kill any police officers'
Mr Hearn said: 'He intended to attack the police officers who attended with a shovel, which he had sharpened for that purpose, and that his intention at that time was to kill any police officers who attended.
'No officers in fact attended the defendant's address.'
During the interview, he also said his intention was to let it be known that 'his tolerance for the government had come to an end' by causing as much damage as possible.
Mr Hearn said: '(Dighton) said that he had 'teetered' as to whether he wanted to kill someone and had not been 'fully decided'.'
Dighton, representing himself in court, spoke about violence being 'justified' against the state.
He referred to grooming gangs and 'Boris Johnson having parties while the country is locked down' during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The defendant added: 'People have such a short memory, it is terrible. I will be dead before I leave prison anyway, so that doesn't bother me.'
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If you ever thought, as I did growing up there, that Northern Ireland's fame was limited to 30 years of bombs and bullets, or building a ship that sank on its maiden voyage — you'd better think again. Twenty-one years ago, we were also host to the biggest robbery in British or Irish history at the time — in fact, the sixth biggest robbery in the world. Pretty impressive, eh? In one sense, it was impressive. On December 20, 2004, £26.5 million in cash was stolen from the Northern Bank headquarters in Belfast's city centre — in clear view of the public as Christmas shoppers strolled round the continental market just feet away. Glenn Patterson, an admired Belfast-based novelist, has written a book showing how the robbers did it, and how they got away with it. It was not just a monetary robbery, but a symbolic one. The Northern Bank building is a landmark in Belfast's post-industrial city centre, a great, sturdy 1970s edifice in concrete. It's a building you can imagine Bill Bixby walking out of, coat over shoulder, in the credits for The Incredible Hulk. But the robbery was not the first of its kind that year. Already in 2004 there had been other 'tiger kidnappings', where robbers would take family members hostage and force bank employees to help them to carry out the heist. In response, the Northern Bank had changed its operations so that two key holders were needed simultaneously to access its cash vaults. The criminals' solution? To abduct two employees' family members at once. Kevin McMullan, the bank's assistant manager, and Chris Ward, a junior employee, both had a knock on the door the night before the robbery. Armed men took over their homes and held their families hostage while McMullan and Ward were taken away. The men were held overnight, then told to go to work the next day and act normally. 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As Patterson points out: 'Something [else] disappeared in that white van in December 2004 that has never been recovered.' The Northern Bank Job: The Heist and How They Got Away With It by Glenn Patterson (Head of Zeus £16.99 pp272). To order a copy go to Free UK standard P&P on orders over £25. Special discount available for Times+ members
