Sign up to our free newsletter for the top North Wales stories sent straight to your e-mail Sign up now! Thank you for subscribing See our privacy notice Invalid Email

Would-be killer Zack Davies was a member of a sinister Russian ‘race war’ organisation and may have been on a government anti-terror programme’s watchlist before committing his crimes, a Daily Post investigation has learned.

Davies, who was jailed for the attempted murder of Asian dentist Dr Sarandev Bhambra Sandip at Tesco in Mold last year, was described as a self-radicalised loner during his trial at Mold Crown Court.

But 12 months on from Davies being sentenced to life behind bars for the crazed attack, the Daily Post has seen evidence that the 26-year-old was involved with Ironmarch, a Moscow-based international network that promotes race war.

And the Daily Post has also heard claims from well-placed sources within National Action, UK-based group of which Davies had been linked to and whose literature was found in his house, that he had been contacted by the government’s Prevent team.

Prevent was set up to try to stop individuals and communities vulnerable to extremism from being radicalised.

When Davies was jailed, his victim said he believed that if it had been a case of an Asian man attacking a white victim, the charge would have been one of terrorism , not “racially motivated attempted murder” as described by North Wales Police.

The source told the Daily Post: “Zack was known to counter-terrorism, this was over an incident a few years ago when he attacked his mother’s boyfriend. This led him to leave the home and live with heroin addicts.

“Investigating police were apparently concerned when they went to check his room and there was a big Nazi flag on the wall of the kind he used for chatrooms.

“He was referred to Prevent, who met with Zack, the outcome of this was a letter warning him not to go down the path of terrorism or some stupid s***. He kept this pristine and framed in his room and regularly showed it to friends on line.

“It almost certainly would have been part of the evidence collected from his room.”

Watch Zack Davies arriving at Mold Crown Court

Video Loading Video Unavailable Click to play Tap to play The video will start in 8 Cancel Play now

Davies was known to post videos online of himself standing in front of a Nazi flag , sometimes bare-chested and sometimes wearing a ski mask and holding hunting knives. He also posted on online racist forums .

But his involvement with Ironmarch - which venerates Neo Nazi Anders Brevik, who killed 77 people in Norway in 2011 - stretched to more than just posting comments on walls.

He had joined the organisation under the name “Rockerz88”, a name by which he was well-known on neo-Nazi fringe sites.

Ironmarch, a self-proclaimed international “fascist society”, uses the slogan “Gas the Kikes, Race War Now 14/88 Boots on the Ground.”

It boasts hundreds of ultra-radical, dedicated followers around the world including dozens of British hardcore neo-Nazis. More than just a web forum, there are checks on new members who most usually engage with senior members in large Skype group chats.

(Image: Julian Hamilton/Daily Mirror)

Following Davies’ conviction in June last year, his status on Ironmarch’s website was changed to “gassed” - its version of having been expelled.

A world-leading expert on extremism told the Daily Post that the involvement in groups like Ironmarch was highly likely to lead to apparently lone wolf attacks like the one carried out by Davies.

Dr Kumar Ramakrishna, head of the National Security Studies Programme at Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University and an honorary visiting Senior Research Fellow at an Oxford University college, said: “Basically ... I am coming to the conclusion that involvement in extremist movements ... like Ironmarch could be a risk factor for downstream involvement in actual physical violence.

He added: “This is why some scholars warn about ‘the perils of non-violent extremism’ while others like myself argue that there is in fact just ‘extremism’, with its inherent violent potentials.

“At the very least, individuals who are deeply immersed in such movements – especially those with a history of low-level criminal behaviour - should be monitored, and if need be, counselled. To just ignore them in my view would be a mistake.“

North Wales Police declined to comment on Davies’ links to Ironmarch, saying: “As the investigation and conviction of Zack Davies has concluded we have nothing more to add.”

The Home Office - which runs the Prevent strategy - said it could not comment on an individual case.

Share your views about this story using the comment section below.