Last June, Ethan Stables was arrested by police before he could carry out a “murderous attack” on a Pride event in Cumbria.
A court has heard how the 20-year-old white supremacist was planning to attack people with a machete during an LGBTQ Pride event at the New Empire pub in his hometown of Barrows-in-Furness.
His attack was foiled after he shared his plans with a far-right Facebook group. A member of the private group who saw the messages shared a warning on Twitter and phoned the police.
“I’ve had enough. I don’t want to live in a gay world and I sure as hell don’t want my children living in one,” he reportedly said in the group chat.
Prosecutor Jonathan Sandiford described Stables as a “white supremacist” with a “deep-seated hatred” of minority groups including Jews, Muslims, black people, and “especially gay people”.
However, Stables – who has denied preparing an act of terrorism with intent to kill – has now told a court that he isn’t homophobic.
He claimed that he wrote the threatening posts to impress his friends, and went on to add: “Actually I am bisexual.”
© Facebook / New Empire Barrow
The 20-year-old revealed that he has had a same-sex experience, but has never divulged his sexuality before because he was afraid of his family’s reaction, according to BBC News.
Sandiford questioned why his bisexuality hadn’t been brought up before, as well as describing the notion that Stables was just trying to impress his white supremacist friends as “nonsense”.
He added: “Between 2016 and his arrest in 2017, he was planning and preparing to commit acts of terrorism directed towards members of these groups but, primarily, directed towards people who were lesbian or gay.
“His purpose in these acts of preparation was to launch a murderous attack on members of these communities – in particular, the prosecution suggests, people who were gay.”
Stables had allegedly spent months researching weapons, including how to make his own explosives and firearms.
He collected a range of weapons including a machete, knives, an axe, an air rifle and a ball bearing gun for use during the attack after becoming “enraged” by the event, the jury heard.
Patrick Upward QC, defending, told the jury that his client was a “fantasist”, not a white supremacist. He also said the defendant has Asperger’s Syndrome, an openly gay uncle, and a best friend who is black.
The trial continues.
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