A troubled teen who became “sucked into extremism” and shared TikTok videos in support of Jihad and ISIS ideologies has been jailed.

Leo Walby, 19, from Swanley, had two social media platforms which he used to encourage terrorism from his bedroom.

But when arrested the Muslim convert, who police found with a black hat with an Arabic logo which translates as ‘There is no God but Allah’, claimed he was doing it because he “wanted to join the trend”.

He pleaded guilty at the Old Bailey last month to six counts of dissemination of terrorist material, contrary to the Terrorism Act 2006.

Walby, who left school aged 13 due to bad behaviour which led to a "rash of offending", appeared before the same court today (May 9) for sentencing.

Judge Anthony Leonard KC told the teen the material showed the “clearest intention” to encourage others to support ISIS financially and militarily.

It comes after police discovered he was operating a Telegram channel under an Arabic display name which translated to ‘Strangers/Brother of those who obey Allah’ in August 2024.

His channel was initially public and had 256 subscribers but was later set to private.

Many of the videos and recordings demonstrated support for extreme Islamic views and included videos of ISIS fighters in scene of fighting, and of killed American soldiers.

Walby had also sought donations to support Jihad and two requests were made for contributions to ‘Our sister from the camp ‘al-Hol’ - a reference to a camp in Syria where ISIS fighters and families were held.

In addition, the teen posted a propaganda video that declared that Sufis, Shia and Christians should all be executed and which declared that executions and beheadings were normal.

Another TikTok account was created in July 2024 posting videos promoting extreme Islamic views and had 1,507 followers.

The court also heard how Walby had posted a video of a speech from Abdullah Yusuf Azaam, known as the father of global jihad, and who had links with Osama Bin Laden onto the account.

The Swanley teen was arrested on October 4 and when first interviewed he admitted he had made the posts because he had seen others doing it and “wanted to join the trend”.

The judge remarked the defendant had refused to provide the username and password for an online storage account on his phone when requested by the police.

Judge Leonard said: “In my judgment your refusal demonstrates a complete disregard for the rule of law and further causes me concern as to what you did not want the police to find on your phone.”

The court heard how the 19-year-old had previous convictions for offences of dishonesty, assault, arson, possession of a bladed article, causing intentional harassment, alarm or distress which was racially aggravated.

He pleaded guilty to six counts of disseminating a terrorist publication and one count of failing to comply with a notice on April 2 at an adjourned Plea and Trial Preparation Hearing.

When considering his age as a mitigating factor, the judge dismissed the idea that his offending showed “”the sort of naivety” which is associated with youth offending.

He said: “You changed your religion to follow the Muslim faith, and what you did to post the material was carefully and intelligently planned.”

However, the judge did take into account the fact Walby had expressed regret from the moment he was interviewed, but said the fact he did not disclose the pin number to his phone was a “deliberate decision” to avoid incriminating himself further.

“Regret should have led to absolute transparency in what you had done” the judge added.

It is hard to explain how you became sucked in to the extremism, but you did.

The court heard Walby had “voluntarily ceased” such activities prior to his arrest which only lasted a month.

“You ceased your offending when you converted to Islam because it was a peaceful religion,” the judge’s sentencing remarks stated.

“It is hard to explain how you became sucked in to the extremism, but you did.

“It is even harder to understand why you went on to disseminate the material which you viewed.”

The court also heard the defendant had been assessed as having mild autism.

Judge Leonard sentenced Walby to four and a half years in prison in total.

This included 12 months in prison for the failure to provide the username and password for an online storage account on his iPhone and a further three-and-a-half years custody with an extended licence of 12 months for the six other counts related to sharing terrorism materials.