'Ginger Extremist' guilty in plot to make Prince Harry king

Mark Colborne had ingredients to make enough cyanide to kill 2,500 people

Prince Harry
(Image credit: Chris Jackson/Getty)

A 37-year-old dubbed the "Ginger Extremist", who fantasised about killing Prince Charles so that Prince Harry could be king, has been found guilty of plotting a terrorist attack.

In a retrial at the Old Bailey, Mark Colborne from Southampton was convicted of preparing terrorist acts, as well as possessing ingredients and recipes to make enough cyanide to kill 2,500 people. A previous jury failed to reach a verdict.

The contents of a diary and notes kept by Colborne included several damning entries, reports the BBC.

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"I don't want to be a serial killer," he wrote. "I'm more of an Anders Breivik. I have left potential targets open. I was waiting for an opportunity to kill one of them. Let it be Prince Charles, which would be good."

Another diary entry said: "Take up a good position and put a bullet in Charles's head. He is protected but not too protected. I would sacrifice my life for that one shot. Kill Charles and William, and Harry [will] become king. Kill the tyrants."

The jury was also told that Colborne felt "belittled" for being white with ginger hair. According to prosecutor Annabel Darlow, his diary also included passages about his hatred for "non-Aryans", calling them "blacks and Caucasian idiots".

Colborne denied all the charges, telling the court that his diary entries were simply "angry rants" that he wrote during a time when he had stopped taking medication for depression.

Police praised his family for coming forward when they uncovered the chemicals and notes in his bedroom.

Colborne will be sentenced on 3 November.

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