Felix Winter
Felix Winter (a previously unnamed 17 year old female child who identifies as transgender) was convicted at the High Court in Glasgow in February 2025 of a charge under the Terrorism Act and breach of the peace. As the crimes spanned between June 2022 and July 2023, Winter will have been around 15 years old at the time.
Winter is reportedly “obsessed by murder”, held “pro-Nazi” and racist views and had previously been referred to the UK-wide Prevent programme, which is designed to stop vulnerable people from being drawn into extremism. The Daily Mail reported that after a visit to the family home with a terrorism officer appeared to ‘go well’ and Winter ‘engaged’ with the police, the involvement of Prevent ended. This echoes a recent horrific case where despite being reported to the programme three times, Prevent did not intervene with murderer Axel Rudakubana as they found no evidence of a fixed ideology or motivation.
Media reports indicate that Winter wanted to carry out a mass shooting at an Edinburgh school after having “idolised” the killers behind the 1999 Columbine High School massacre in the United States, in which 12 students and a teacher died. After apparently exhibiting a variety of alarming behaviours to fellow pupils over a period of time (e.g. dressing as the Columbine perpetrators and talking about placing bombs in classrooms), Winter turned up at school on 20 June 2023 wearing cargo trousers, a military tactical vest and helmet and carrying an imitation firearm. A photograph circulated on social media then unsurprisingly “provoked a considerable degree of fear and alarm among pupils and parents” and triggered a large-scale police operation. A second referral was then made to Prevent.
The Times reports that Winter was born female but identifies as a boy; only right-leaning media outlets such as The Times and Daily Telegraph were clear on this fact, although The Times used male pronouns and The Telegraph avoided pronouns throughout. This is important given the extreme asymmetry between the sexes regarding perpetration of mass shootings, with males being very much more likely to commit such crimes compared with females (96% vs 4%). However, at least three females who identify as transgender (Audrey Hale, Maya/Alec McKinney and Trinity/Jamie Shockley) have been involved in perpetrating or planning school shootings in the US in recent years. Predictably, the BBC referred to the offender throughout their coverage as a “boy” and with male pronouns. It is unknown whether the Scottish teenager has received treatment at a gender identity clinic such as the Sandyford Clinic in Glasgow or has taken cross sex hormones (i.e. testosterone). See here for trans-identified offenders known to have been treated at Sandyford.
Bail was revoked by Judge Lord Arthurson and sentencing deferred for reports until March 2025. The offender, who was described as a “vulnerable young person” with mental health difficulties, is expected to be sent to a secure unit for young people.
*Update July 2025*
Despite hearing mitigation regarding Winter’s status as a vulnerable young person with mental health difficulties, early childhood trauma and autism, the judge, Lord Arthurson, sentenced Winter (now aged 18) to six years imprisonment. Shortly after Winter’s sentencing, yet another American teenager who identifies as transgender perpetrated a school shooting in Minneapolis, and a depressing majority of media outlets stumbled over themselves not to misgender the deranged male shooter who mercilessly murdered and maimed tiny children. In fact, the columnist Michael Deacon pointed out that it was the publicly-funded BBC’s fact-checking unit (Verify) that started calling the shooter “she” and “her”, therefore somewhat undermining their ability to deliver on their mission of challenging misinformation.
Coverage of the judge’s comments in The Times says he noted Winter’s prolonged (1000+ hours) contact with the extremist pro-Nazi group on Discord and Winter’s “visceral, violent and graphically detailed plan” to carry out a massacre. Winter apparently discussed placing bombs in the cafeteria and library at the school and then shooting people as they ran out of the building. Winter also amassed instructions in relation to the manufacture of explosive devices and substances, the manufacture of cyanide and the conversion of a handgun, and discussed potential dates for the attack, including specific individuals to target and kill. Lord Arthurson also cited a journal entry from January 2023 when Winter wrote about seemingly developing a Messiah complex: “Everyone should look at me as if I am a God because I f***ing am and I will prove that f***ing soon.” The judge concluded that Winter was “progressing towards the brink of perpetrating a mass school shooting”, was radicalised, and his [sic] statement of intent could not be clearer.
The full sentencing statements from Lord Arthurson can be read here: https://judiciary.scot/home/sentences-judgments/sentences-and-opinions/2025/07/30/hma-v-felix-winter
Image credit: Police Scotland via The Times
Media reports
The Times https://www.thetimes.com/uk/scotland/article/teenager–obsessed–by–columbine–jailed–over–school–shooting–plot–mntjsh039 archive
BBC Murder-obsessed teen jailed for plotting mass school shooting https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/clyj2g5l1g2o archive
Daily Telegraph https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/07/30/pictured-transgender-pro-nazi-who-planned-school-shooting/ archive
The Times https://www.thetimes.com/uk/scotland/article/obsessed-trans-pupil-intended-mass-shooting-at-edinburgh-school-dlb9pndvh archive
Daily Telegraph https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/02/21/transgender-pro-nazi-plan-school-shooting-edinburgh/ archive
BBC Teenager plotted mass shooting at Edinburgh school https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c3w1pg65wz7o archive
Daily Mail https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14421855/Murder-obsessed-pro-Nazi-teenager-idolised-Columbine-killers-wanted-carry-massacre-Scottish-school.html archive