A father from West Yorkshire has been sentenced to more than four years in prison after using social media to radicalise himself and attempt to recruit a far-right “battalion” to attack non-white people.
Tygue Crowther, 36, of Cleckheaton, used his Twitter account—now X—to post messages encouraging violence between October 2023 and June 2024 before the account was shut down. He also shared far-right bomb-making manuals on Telegram and circulated images of neo-Nazi stickers in a local playground.
At Newcastle Crown Court, prosecutor John Greaney described Crowther’s posts as voicing or implying “support for the eradication of immigrants and non-whites.” He added that the material included graphic video clips of attacks on non-white people, glorifying violence carried out by neo-Nazi groups. The posts attracted “significant engagement” from followers who expressed support for Crowther’s extremist views.
Crowther actively sought to establish a group called the “United Whites Battalion” (UWB), which he referenced both in his X profile and in multiple posts. His profile identified him as a “British, National Socialist, Accelerationist” and included slogans such as: “No to immigration or multiculturalism. British people need to take action against the vermin entering our country.”
National Socialism refers to the ideology of the Nazi Party, while far-right accelerationism is a doctrine aimed at inciting race war through terrorist acts. Crowther’s profile image featured a soldier in a skull facemask performing a Nazi salute against a backdrop of a rising sun, symbols associated with extremist far-right movements. His profile picture also included an octopus overlaid with a swastika, an antisemitic meme suggesting Jewish control of the world. His profile biography contained references to the numbers 1488, a coded white supremacist slogan, and the words “Heil Hitler.”
During sentencing, Judge Nathan Adams highlighted the seriousness of Crowther’s actions, noting that he had “encouraged violence endangering life” by posting graphic videos glorifying attacks on non-white people. The judge added: “He put into the public domain offensive videos, and the duration was extensive and without filter.”
Crowther told a probation officer that he had been “preyed on by people on the far-right” after becoming “lonely, isolated and bored” following his wife’s departure in June 2019. Judge Adams acknowledged that Crowther had been depressed and suicidal but stated that there was “no clear link between that and his offending.”
Detective Chief Superintendent James Dunkerley, head of Counter-Terrorism Policing North East, said: “Those that seek to divide our communities through sharing extremist material will be identified and brought to justice.”
Crowther was sentenced to four years and three months in prison.
