Kent teen convicted over sharing Daesh propaganda online

A 19-year-old from Swanley, Kent, has pleaded guilty to multiple terrorism offences after an investigation by the Metropolitan Police’s Counter Terrorism Command revealed he had shared extremist material online.

Leo Walby, born in August 2005, appeared at the Old Bailey on 2 April, where he admitted to six counts of dissemination of terrorist material under Section 2 of the Terrorism Act 2006. He also pleaded guilty to failing to disclose a password to a cloud storage account when lawfully ordered to do so under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000.

Walby was arrested on 4 October 2024 in a proactive operation by counter-terrorism officers. A search of his Swanley residence led to the seizure of several digital devices. Subsequent analysis uncovered evidence that he had been distributing extreme Islamist terrorist content—including Daesh propaganda—across various social media platforms under his control.

Commander Dominic Murphy, head of the Met’s Counter Terrorism Command, said: “Our investigation found that Walby was sharing various pieces of terrorist material across a number of social media accounts he was controlling. This kind of content can be extremely harmful, so where we identify people like Walby who are responsible for this, then we will take action and he is now facing the very serious consequences of doing this.”

In addition to the terrorism charges, Walby was prosecuted for failing to comply with a Section 49 notice requiring him to provide a password to access one of his cloud-based storage accounts—an offence under Section 53 of the RIPA legislation.

Following his guilty pleas, Walby has been remanded in custody and is scheduled for sentencing at the Old Bailey on 9 May.

Commander Murphy encouraged the public to remain vigilant and report any online extremist content: “I’d encourage anyone who comes across extremist or terrorist material online to report it to our specialist team who will review to determine whether further police action is necessary and appropriate.”