Yorkshire teenager who branded Prince Harry a 'race traitor' appears in court

The image of Prince Harry, against a bloodied background and featuring a swastika, was shared on a far-right social media platform last year.

Michal Szewczuk, 19, who is being sentenced at the Old Bailey in London for two counts of encouraging terrorism and five counts of possession of terrorist material, searched “Meghan Markle”, “Prince Harry” and “pointing gun” before creating the image and sharing it in August. It included the phrase “See Ya Later Race Traitor”.

Judge Rebecca Poulet QC said the image “advances violence”.

She said: “It is not just something that is deeply unpalatable. It encourages terrorism.”

Szewczuk, of Wyther Park, Leeds, gave no reaction in the dock, while quotes from his blog justifying the rape of women and children to further an Aryan race were read aloud to the court.

He is being sentenced alongside Oskar Dunn-Koczorowski, 18, for encouraging terrorism by posting images or links to Gab, a social media platform which attracts mainly far-right users, last summer.

In mitigation for Szewczuk, his lawyer Adam Morgan said his client had a “difficult and disordered upbringing” and had suffered with depression “for a considerable period”.

The court heard he moved to the UK from Poland aged 10, living first in Northern Ireland and then moving to Leeds.

The teenagers were remanded in custody as Judge Poulet adjourned sentencing until this morning.

Szewczuk, who was arrested in December at his halls of residence during his first year studying computer science at Portsmouth University, pleaded guilty in April to possession of documents including the White Resistance Manual and the al Qaida Manual.

Dunn-Koczorowski, who was arrested at his west London home on the same day last year, admitted the charges against him in December.

The pair are expected to hear their fate when they are sentenced tomorrow.