A man who attacked a woman so brutally she lost the ability to speak has now been convicted of possessing bomb-making and other terrorist material.
Jon Craig’s hoard of terrorist literature and neo-Nazi photographs were discovered by police as they investigated him for assaulting the Polish shortbread factory supervisor in Elgin.
The dad-of-five was described as “cowardly and vicious” after he shattered 44-year-old Katarzyna Jaloszynska’s skull and smashed bones in her face during the early morning revenge attack on October 26 2017.
Craig, then of Pinefield Crescent, Elgin, was subsequently jailed for six years at the High Court in Glasgow.
Inverness Sheriff Court was told today that police discovered another sinister side to Craig, 59, when they searched his computer and found details for the ingredients and method used to make explosives and a bomb.
Neo-Nazi photographs, including one of Craig posing in front of a swastika, were found, as well as images of people convicted of terrorist offences, like Abu Hamza al-Masri and other convicted radicals.
Literature about the British National Party was also saved on his computer, the court was told.
‘He has no terrorist connections’
Fiscal depute Jonathan Kemp said: “There were two images of Winston Churchill with quotes ‘Islam is as dangerous in a man as rabies in a dog. No stronger retrograde force exists in the world.'”
Craig’s defence counsel Euan Dow said his client, who admitted possessing documents likely to be useful to terrorists between November 23 2008 and November 30 2017, had no intention of carrying out terrorist acts.
He said: “These had been lying dormant for years. His position is that he obtained them out of curiosity. There is nothing to indicate that he used the formula or passed it on.
“The images were downloaded two days after the Boston Marathon bombings in 2013 and he and a friend were curious about the making of the kitchen devices used. These images were freely available. He has no terrorist connections.”
Sheriff Robert Frazer was told that Craig’s earliest release date from the six-year jail sentence imposed for the serious assault was November 30, 2023.
Sheriff Frazer added a year on to that sentence and told Craig: “You have pleaded guilty to a serious charge which, at this time, and at the time of the offence, was when there was heightened security in this country.”
Brutal Elgin assault shocked community
The vicious assault on Ms Jaloszynska took place at around 4.45am as she left her Elgin home to catch the bus to her work at Walkers shortbread factory in Aberlour.
Craig had made a formal complaint the year before claiming he was being “abused, singled out, harassed and racially discriminated against” by Ms Jaloszynska.
When questioned by police Craig initially denied the assault, telling officers: “Me and other factory workers were treated like Jews in a death camp.”
The court heard that after Miss Jaloszynska left for work her husband heard screaming and ran out and found her badly injured, covered in blood and unable to speak.
Emergency surgery was carried out at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary to remove fragments of bone from her brain.
The trial, in April 2018, heard she was still unable to speak, although could obey commands.
“This brutal assault has resulted in significant long term impact for the victim and her family. Craig is a devious individual and his sole intention that morning was to inflict very serious injury.
“I would like to thank the community for supporting us with the investigation which was challenging and complex in its nature particularly due to the fact we were unable to fully speak to the woman involved to establish what happened to her.”
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