A murder-obsessed teenager who idolised the Columbine killers and plotted a “Doomsday” mass shooting at his Edinburgh school has been jailed for six years, despite being referred to the UK’s counter-terrorism programme four times.
Felix Winter, now 18, was sentenced at the High Court in Glasgow on Wednesday after admitting two charges – a breach of the peace with racial aggravation and a terrorism offence – committed when he was aged 15 and 16 between June 2022 and July 2023. The court heard Winter had spent more than 1,000 hours in contact with a pro-Nazi online Discord group, approximately two hours daily over two years.
Lord Arthurson told the court that Winter had discussed with fellow pupils his “visceral, violent and graphically detailed plan” to carry out a massacre at his secondary school. In a January 2023 journal entry, the teenager described his school as a “virus upon this earth” and wrote: “Everyone should look at me as if I am a God because I fing am and I will prove that fing soon.”
The judge stated: “The whole material available to me indicate that you were progressing towards the brink of perpetrating a mass school shooting, you were radicalised and your statement of intent could not have been clearer.” He added that Winter “increasingly saw yourself as a warrior” and had created detailed plans selecting which pupils and teachers he would kill and which he would spare.
Winter’s obsession centred on the 1999 Columbine High School massacre in Colorado, United States, where Eric Harris, 18, and Dylan Klebold, 17, killed 12 students and one teacher before taking their own lives. The court heard Winter “sympathised” with the killers and spoke “excitedly and with considerable enthusiasm” about the attack, even wanting to change his name in an “act of homage” to Klebold.
Police Scotland launched a major investigation in summer 2023 after a social media photo of Winter at school wearing combat gear and carrying an imitation gun caused panic among pupils and parents. While the clothes and prop gun had been issued for a drama class video in which he played a kidnapper, detectives discovered Winter had frequently spoken to other pupils about carrying out a school attack over a 13-month period.
A female pupil told officers Winter planned to start on the second floor and “clear it out” before continuing the shooting spree downstairs. Other students reported he had spoken of using guns, explosives or poison against pupils and teachers, and claimed he would buy a 3D printer to help construct a firearm.
When Winter was stopped by police under the Terrorism Act returning from holiday with his family on 9 July 2023, officers discovered a TikTok account featuring footage of him wearing black combat clothes and a skeleton mask. His seized electronic devices contained files on “homemade” firearms and poisons, 65 videos of Columbine with added music that appeared to “glamorise” the mass killing, and “gore” material featuring executions of real people.
Defence KC Shelagh McCall argued for a strict alternative to custody, citing her client as a “vulnerable young person” with autism and mental health issues who was transgender. She said Winter had been “groomed by an online community into believing his violent fantasy was morally justified” following bullying and the “loss of a friendship.”
However, the court heard Winter had been referred to the Prevent counter-terrorism programme in November 2022, June 2023, February 2025, and as recently as 20 February 2025 – the day before his guilty pleas. The final referral came after he brought his indictment to college and allegedly commented he was “annoyed that he had been caught.”
A risk assessment report presented to the court noted “proximal warning behaviours present which would indicate the threat of an attack was increasing.” The assessor found it “tricky to answer definitively” whether Winter would have followed through on his plans had he not been arrested, but noted his violent ideation “undoubtedly grew in its intensity from early 2022 through to summer 2023.
Assistant Chief Constable Stuart Houston said: “This was an extremely complex and fast-moving investigation, and I want to take this opportunity to pay tribute to the diligence and hard work of the officers who worked tirelessly to gather the evidence and bring the perpetrator to justice.”
He added the case “underlines the advantages of working closely in partnership as part of the Prevent programme, which promotes early intervention through tailored, diversionary support to individuals who may be susceptible to supporting or committing terrorism to help keep our communities safe.
James Dalgleish, City of Edinburgh Council’s education convener, said: “While we are unable to comment on individual cases, we want to reassure the public that we have robust safeguarding procedures in place. We work closely with partner agencies to ensure the safety and wellbeing of all pupils and staff, and take any matters involving violence extremely seriously.”
The Columbine massacre has inspired more than 70 copycat attacks worldwide as of June 2025, according to research into what experts term the “Columbine effect.” Winter’s case highlights ongoing concerns about online radicalisation and the challenges facing the Prevent programme in identifying and intervening with young people at risk of committing acts of violence.
Winter’s sentence will be backdated to 21 February 2025, when he was convicted and remanded into custody.
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