• A man from East London and a woman have been charged with terrorism offences related to right-wing extremist activity.
• Met Police Counter Terrorism Command asks the public not to speculate while investigations are ongoing.
An 18-year-old man and a 19-year-old woman were arrested and charged on Thursday evening with terror-related offences
Rex Clark, 18 of Ilford in East London was charged with the preparation of terrorist acts, where he is deemed to have broken the law under Section 5 of the Terrorism Act.
Sofija Vinogradova, 19 of Cheshunt in Hertfordshire was charged with preparation of terrorist acts under Section 5 of the Terrorism Act, and two counts of collection of information likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism.
Both were said to have been remanded in custody to appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Friday, 16 August.
The investigation is related to suspected extreme right-wing terrorism activity.
Surprisingly Sofija Vinogradova, was already out on bail having been arrested on Sunday 4 August by officers from the Counter Terrorism Command.
They arrested the 19-year-old woman in Cheshunt on suspicion of being in possession of a firearm under Section 1 of the Firearms Act 1968.
At the same time, Sofija Vinogradova was further arrested for collection of information likely to be of use to a terrorist under Section 58 of the Terrorism Act.
Detectives searched the Cheshunt property where she had been arrested and then taken to a London police station.
Vinogradova was then released on bail, pending further enquiries.
On August 10th, she was arrested again at the same address in Cheshunt, where police found and arrested Rex Clark.
At the time, both were arrested under section 41 of the Terrorism Actand taken to a London police station.
Searches were carried out again at the address in Cheshunt, includinganother address in Ilford, where Clark is said to be from, and once completed the Crown Prosecution Service confirmed the charges against both suspects..
Commander Dominic Murphy, Head of the Met’s Counter Terrorism Command, said:
“These are extremely serious charges, but I would urge the public not to speculate any further about this case at this time and allow the criminal justice process to run its course unimpeded.
“While we are not able to comment in any detail about the investigation now that these charges have been brought, I want to reassure the public that at this time we do not believe that there is any wider threat related to this investigation, although our investigation very much continues.
“I also want to make clear that our investigation into this matter is not as a consequence of the disorder across the country which occurred following the terrible events in Southport.”
