Tristan Morgan, 52, was spotted walking away carrying a petrol can as smoke poured from the 18th-century building in Exeter, Devon, on July 21 last year. The defendant, from Exeter, has admitted arson, encouraging terrorism by publishing a song entitled White Man to live-streaming website Soundcloud and having a copy of the so-called White Resistance Manual. As he appeared at the Old Bailey on Friday, prosecutor Alistair Richardson said Morgan has "deep-rooted anti-Semitic belief, embodied in a desire to do harm to the Jewish community and an obsession with abhorrent anti-Semitic material". Morgan made songs "exhorting others to violence" against the Jewish community and had an array of material that "revelled in the degenerate views of Nazi Germany and white supremacists", Mr Richardson said. On the evening of Saturday July 21 last year, he tried to burn down the synagogue "with no thought for any lives he might put at risk", he said. Mr Richardson told how Zoe Baker and her partner Samual O'Brien were walking through Exeter city centre when they heard a "loud bang" and saw an "orange glow and smoke" coming from the grade two listed building. Concerned someone might be hurt, they stopped and Ms Baker saw the defendant walking away, carrying a green petrol can. Mr Richardson said: "He appeared to be laughing, while trying to flatten his hair, which she described as looking like it had been 'whooshed up'." Morgan appeared "cocky" as he drove off in a Mercedes Vito van, according to the witness account. Mr O'Brien and an employee of a nearby Mecca bingo tackled the blaze with fire extinguishers before the fire brigade arrived. Firefighters found a "severe" fire in a room containing a gas boiler, which could have exploded. Morgan's van was identified on CCTV as well as footage of the defendant using a small axe to break a window of the synagogue. The court was shown video of Morgan pouring liquid from his green petrol can through the window before he is engulfed in a ball of flames. Police arrested him at his home in Alexander Terrace, Exeter. As he opened the door to officers, the defendant, who smelled of petrol and burning, exclaimed: "That didn't take long." He had burns to his hands, forehead and hair, the court heard. In his pockets, he was carrying two lock knives and two lighters. As he was put in a police van, Morgan said: "Please tell me that synagogue is burning to the ground, if not, it's poor preparation." Later, as his burns were being treated in hospital, he told staff "it was like a bomb going off". The attack on the synagogue was described as "devastating" for the whole Jewish community. The court heard the attack on the building coincided with a Jewish feast day commemorating disasters, including the Holocaust. The synagogue, built in 1763, is the third oldest in Britain and remains a focal point for the Jewish community in the south-west. It underwent reconstruction in the 1990s and a £100,000 restoration project was
'Far-right extremist' who set fire to synagogue 'walks away laughing'
Tristan Morgan, 52, was spotted walking away carrying a petrol can as smoke poured from the 18th-century building in Exeter, Devon, on July 21 last year. The defendant, from Exeter, has admitted arson, encouraging terrorism by publishing a song entitled White Man to live-streaming website Soundcloud and having a copy of the so-called White Resistance Manual. As he appeared at the Old Bailey on Friday, prosecutor Alistair Richardson said Morgan has "deep-rooted anti-Semitic belief, embodied in a desire to do harm to the Jewish community and an obsession with abhorrent anti-Semitic material". Morgan made songs "exhorting others to violence" against the Jewish community and had an array of material that "revelled in the degenerate views of Nazi Germany and white supremacists", Mr Richardson said. On the evening of Saturday July 21 last year, he tried to burn down the synagogue "with no thought for any lives he might put at risk", he said. Mr Richardson told how Zoe Baker and her partner Samual O'Brien were walking through Exeter city centre when they heard a "loud bang" and saw an "orange glow and smoke" coming from the grade two listed building. Concerned someone might be hurt, they stopped and Ms Baker saw the defendant walking away, carrying a green petrol can. Mr Richardson said: "He appeared to be laughing, while trying to flatten his hair, which she described as looking like it had been 'whooshed up'." Morgan appeared "cocky" as he drove off in a Mercedes Vito van, according to the witness account. Mr O'Brien and an employee of a nearby Mecca bingo tackled the blaze with fire extinguishers before the fire brigade arrived. Firefighters found a "severe" fire in a room containing a gas boiler, which could have exploded. Morgan's van was identified on CCTV as well as footage of the defendant using a small axe to break a window of the synagogue. The court was shown video of Morgan pouring liquid from his green petrol can through the window before he is engulfed in a ball of flames. Police arrested him at his home in Alexander Terrace, Exeter. As he opened the door to officers, the defendant, who smelled of petrol and burning, exclaimed: "That didn't take long." He had burns to his hands, forehead and hair, the court heard. In his pockets, he was carrying two lock knives and two lighters. As he was put in a police van, Morgan said: "Please tell me that synagogue is burning to the ground, if not, it's poor preparation." Later, as his burns were being treated in hospital, he told staff "it was like a bomb going off". The attack on the synagogue was described as "devastating" for the whole Jewish community. The court heard the attack on the building coincided with a Jewish feast day commemorating disasters, including the Holocaust. The synagogue, built in 1763, is the third oldest in Britain and remains a focal point for the Jewish community in the south-west. It underwent reconstruction in the 1990s and a £100,000 restoration project was
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