Southampton Extremist Tells Court Of 'Hitman Fantasies'

20 May 2015, 16:24 | Updated: 30 March 2016, 13:50

A red-haired extremist who wrote about assassinating the Prince of Wales to make Prince Harry king "for the Aryan people'' has told jurors that being a hitman was his "number one fantasy''.

Mark Colborne, 37, is on trial at the Old Bailey accused of preparing terrorist acts for months before his arrest on June 3 last year.

The court heard that he felt marginalised for being a white, ginger-haired man around the time he bought the ingredients for deadly poison cyanide and made notes about shooting Prince Charles with a sniper rifle.

But while he admitted buying the chemicals and writing the diary recovered from his home in Southampton, he dismissed entries as ``angry rants'' made when he was off medication for depression.

Under cross-examination by prosecutor Annabel Darlow QC, he said: ``Fantasies about killing people as a hitman - that was my number one fantasy.

``Terrorism fantasies were sort of subsidiary but my main interest in being a professional hitman had taken over.''

The court heard he kept thoughts from mental health workers and even his mother with whom he was close.

Ms Darlow asked : ``Would you say you were someone quite good at acting out a role, playing a harmless bumbling fool?''

He replied: ``I would not say I would put on an act ... I was good at hiding the fact I was unwell.''

The prosecutor read out diary extracts in which Colborne wrote he should be ``in the running for an Oscar'' for his acting ability, and describing himself as a ``Jekyll and Hyde'' character.

Asked to explain them, the defendant said: ``I'm trying to make out I'm someone more clever than I actually am.''

Ms Darlow asserted: ``You play your care worker, you play your mental health professionals, you play your mum.

``You make out you are Mr Harmless, Mr Nice Guy, and go back to your bedroom  and order poison over the internet.''

Colborne said he hid his extremism ``very well'' but added: ``I have felt like a Jekyll and Hyde in the sense of hiding my problem from people, but that's all.''

In other entries, Colborne wrote about ``doing a Stephen Lawrence'' in reference to the racially motivated murder.

The defendant said: ``That's just rage.

``I wouldn't actually go out and do that.''

Asked about his views on race, Colborne said he had ``misguided thoughts'' on the subject.

When asked to explain what he meant by ``mud race'', he said: ``People of the opposite race to me - black, Asian people.''

And Caucasian, he said, referred to white people who were not blonde, blue-eyed ``Aryans''.

Colborne denies the charge against him and the trial continues.