Matthew, a 17-year-old becoming involved in extreme right-wing activity.
Matthew had learning difficulties, he had no friends and was bullied at school where he showed no interest in his classes. Matthew had previously been involved in racially motivated antisocial behaviour.
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Video length - 2 minutes 33 seconds
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When I was a kid I lived with my mum and dad. I remember me and my Dad used to kick a football ‘round in the park and we always had family roasts on Sunday.
After Dad lost his job him and my Mum started arguing a lot, and one day he just left.
Mum met Martin at work and started spending all her time with him. After they had my baby sister, Marie, mum was too busy with her new family, and just left me to get on with it.
There’s nothing to do where I live. It’s really boring except when I go to Army Cadets. My Dad and Grandad were in the Army and I always wanted to join. The lads there are alright. they make me feel part of a team.
I never felt like that at school cos I got bullied the other kids called me names like stupid and fat. They took the piss out of me when I read out loud in class. The school made me go for a test where I got diagnosed with Autism, I was so angry. I knew I wouldn’t be able to join the army now.
My anxiety got really bad and I started spending loads of time watching news videos online about terrorist attacks in the UK. I never liked non-white people anyway. I’d shout at them to go home and cross the road whenever I saw one. I used to go around vandalising their property; it made me fit in with the lads in my area.
I started searching online for ways I could ‘get rid’ of these people that don’t belong here and looked for sites where I could buy stickers that showed how white people are superior.
I found a group online full of people who agreed with me. That's where I met Rob, in a chatroom. He seemed pretty cool. Rob organised for me to meet some of his mates at the Library. They told me about their group and what we could do to fight the terrorists.
They told me about how our culture is being taken over by immigrants and how most of the crimes in this country are done by foreigners. The joke is the government look after them but they didn't look after dad when he came home from Iraq.
Rob said people who don’t stand up for our race are nearly as bad as the terrorists. A lot of people round here talk about immigrants, but none of them do anything about it. Rob said it’s our responsibility to protect our culture.
Rob and the guys don’t care about your weight or how you do in school, it’s your blood that counts. When I was hanging out with them I didn’t feel anxious; it was like we were all on the same side.
They said I could buy one of their swastika armbands and I immediately bought it. It made me feel part of their group.
I started saying stuff to the kids at school, about what I thought of the other races.
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