Teenager pleads guilty to terror offences after sharing Islamic State propaganda

A teenager has pleaded guilty to sharing Islamic State (IS) videos and other extremist content on social media.

Leo Walby, 19, from Swanley, Kent, appeared at the Old Bailey today and admitted six charges of dissemination of a terrorist publication between July 10 and August 20, 2024.

He was arrested after police found evidence he was sharing the material on platforms like Telegram and TikTok.

This led to his arrest on October 4 last year, where officers seized several digital devices.

Walby was ordered to hand over the password to a cloud-based storage account he held but refused to do so.

He has been remanded in custody and will appear for sentencing at the Old Bailey on May 9.

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.

‘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.’

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