Experts have warned of a rising number of so-called ‘0 to 100 killers’ who go from watching extreme violence online to plotting massacres from their bedrooms.
The suspects are usually loners with no prior criminal convictions who watch torture, mutilation and beheading videos on the internet.
Criminal justice experts now believe there may be a link between viewing extreme violence online and carrying it out in real life.
This contradicts earlier research that dismissed concerns about the impact of violence in video games and films on young people.
The new warning comes following the case of twisted killer Nicholas Prosper who slaughtered his family and planned a primary school massacre in September last year.
The teenager’s internet history revealed he had a fascination with violence and was even kicked out of a gore website because of his warped stance on child abuse.
Neighbours added that he spent so much time on the internet that they didn’t even know he existed, despite often talking to his mother.
Jonathan Hall, the government’s independent reviewer of terrorism legislation, told The Guardian he is now dealing with a ‘new threat cohort’.
Twisted killer Nicholas Prosper who slaughtered his family and planned a primary school massacre in September last year had an obsession with extreme violence online
Left to right: Giselle Prosper, 13, Juliana Prosper, 48 and 16-year-old Kyle Prosper were all killed in their own home
Criminal justice experts now believe there may be a link between watching extreme violence online and carrying it out in real life (stock photo)
He said these suspects are usually a combination of those who have been radicalised online and those who have ‘gone into a dark world on the internet’.
Mr Hall said: ‘There are quite a lot of similarities – they are isolated loners, boys rather than girls, the internet is obviously central, quite a high proportion have neurodivergence.
‘We have to be stark about this – this behaviour couldn’t have existed without the internet because it is the source of the idea that certain types of violence are the solution.’
David Wilson, emeritus professor of criminology at Birmingham City University, also spoke of how he believes violence on social media differs to that in video games or films.
He said that the former tends to be ‘more extreme’ and is considered more absorbing as it is often consumed alone.
It is also believed that online algorithms are pushing content to isolated young people that is more and more extreme.
Professor Wilson noted a rise in the so-called ‘0 to 100 killers’, saying they buck the trend of the belief that criminal behaviour develops gradually and over time.
He blamed factors such as poor mental health provision and cuts to youth clubs for ‘compounding’ the problem.
Police close to the scene where Prosper shot dead his mother and two siblings in Luton
Prosper had been due to go on trial next week accused of shooting dead his mother Juliana, 48, sister Giselle, 13, and brother Kyle, 16, on September 13 last year.
But he dramatically entered guilty pleas during a six-minute hearing at Luton Crown Court on February
After murdering his family, Prosper was stopped by officers and a loaded shotgun was found hidden in bushes nearby.
They later discovered he had been plotting to attack a local school.
In an echo of the Southport attack months earlier, the loner was consumed by a lust for extreme violence and harming children.
Prosper peppered online forums with his repulsive ideas, many relating to children and including the sexual abuse of dead bodies.
His rants were so revolting he was banned from a gore website for repeatedly ‘sexualising minors’.
One moderator told the Mail: ‘There were multiple comments by him either in support of or arguing for child-adult sexual interactions that made it clear this was not in jest or a careless attempt to play devil’s advocate.
‘We do not know what sort of person Mr Prosper was, other than someone unwilling or incapable of following our site’s rules and therefore someone we would not allow on our platform.’
In another video, Prosper sarcastically suggested that child sexual abuse was blamed for ‘virtually every mental disorder and issue’.
