A grandfather who claimed he was a punk rocker not a terrorist broke down in tears today after a jury cleared him of a terror charge.
Barry Simpson downloaded two bomb-making manuals and had made searches on YouTube for “make a napalm lightbulb” and “make a fertiliser bomb”, the trial was told.
When police searched his home near Elgin in June 2018 they found copies of The Anarchists Cookbook and CIA Improvised Sabotage Devices, which contained instructions on making explosives, on his computer.
The former punk band frontman argued that the material was there because it inspired his music and wasn’t for any sinister reasons – and today a jury believed him.
He was found not guilty, by majority, of possessing information of a kind likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism.
When the verdict was delivered Mr Simpson, 50, broke down in tears in the dock.
Speaking outside Inverness Sheriff Court afterwards, the grandfather-of-two said: “If I knew that these two books could have got me into this much trouble I would never have had them.
“I thought I would be feeling elated but I’m not.”
‘Lyrics sought to raise questions’
But defence advocate Edith Forrest, for Mr Simpson, told the trial that her client’s art constituted a “reasonable excuse” for possessing the files, which he had downloaded more than a decade ago.
Jurors heard that Mr Simpson wrote songs with edgy punk lyrics, such as one about his local council that said: “Hang the Moray Councillors, watch them swinging in the breeze” and a second about Donald Trump which went: “Dowse him all in petrol throw a match…”
Miss Forrest told the court: “His lyrics sought to make people think, they sought to raise questions.”
Taking the witness stand in his own defence, Celtic fan Mr Simpson explained the materials had all been amassed because of his interest in punk rock music.
Mr Simpson, who used to be a member of a band called Bin Laden’s Daughter, told the jury how he had been introduced to punk music as a young man and it had quickly become a big part of his life.
He said: “As a teenager I developed an interest in music – it started off heavy metal and quickly progressed to punk rock music.
“To say I was an aficionado is an understatement, I was embedded in the culture.”
Explaining why the book of CIA Improvised Sabotage Devices had been downloaded to his computer, he said: “I wanted to write a song about CIA tradecraft and the shockingness of it. Just research it, making sure that everything in my song was factually correct.”
Mr Simpson told the jury that the photographs that were found were part of his “picture salad” creative process for band imagery, but conceded that looking at one made him feel “absolutely mortified”.
‘It has been a nightmare’
Speaking afterwards, Mr Simpson – whose musical influences included bands such as Napalm Death, Extreme Noise Terror and Malignant Tumour – said the road to acquittal had been a painful one.
He said: “For two-and-and-a-half years, it has been a nightmare.”
Describing the trial as “a total and utter waste of time and money,” he said: “There was enough other stuff on my computer that would have told them I was an artist.”
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The 50-year-old, from Llanbryde near Elgin, said that while his immediate circle had never doubted him, seeing files from his computer displayed in court had been an upsetting experience.
“That photos that were shown of me were utterly humiliating and out of context,” he said.
Mr Simpson said that his focus now was on his family as he awaits the imminent arrival of a third grandchild – a prospect he said he has been unable to enjoy while the threat of conviction loomed large over his life.
