Nazi-obsessed teenager described herself as 'embodiment of hell' before launching axe attack

A Nazi-obsessed teenager who launched a far-right axe attack on a random stranger has pleaded guilty to attempted murder.

Alina Burns, then aged 18, attacked Mohammed Mahmoodi, an Iranian Kurd, outside a barber's shop in Bedminster, Bristol, on 2 August last year as he was chatting with a friend.

CCTV from inside the shop showed the 27-year-old turning and ducking at the last minute as she swung an axe at his neck.

The teenager then tried to strike Mr Mahmoodi again, before he managed to disarm her, escaping with only painful scratches to his neck and cheek.

She was then detained by police officers who had been on patrol nearby. They found a scalpel and several darts on her.

Burns nodded when the arresting officer asked her if she had swung the axe at the man. When he asked her why, she said: "I wanted to cut his neck."

Police later discovered an email she had written to an associate, saying: "Kill all Jews and Muslims in Britain, please."

Burns, who hung an England flag above her bed, was a member of the Patriotic Alternative, a far-right group.

Serena Gates KC, told Bristol Crown Court that Burns had "a desire for a white England, achieved, if necessary, through terror".

Police found messages in which Burns stated that she "realised my role in existence: I am the embodiment of hell, destined to annihilate everything holy I bear witness to".

In another message, she referred to carrying out a "plan" - and said she wanted "all the credit and glory".

An examination of her diary and notebooks revealed notes about Germany, Adolf Hitler and weaponry used by the Germans in the First and Second World Wars.

On 30 July, she looked up on Google "what age you buy an axe UK". She also searched "how to properly use an axe for self-defence" before the attack.

Then, on 31 July, she looked online for YouTube videos, including one about Patrick Crusius, who killed 23 people during a mass shooting in a US Walmart supermarket.

There were also searches for a number of graphic "gore" videos, including one of a man fatally stabbed in the neck, and searches on how to use darts as a weapon

An email to herself on the day before the attack was titled "The dawn of civil war". In the email, she said: "Land is reclaimed through terror."

She added that it was "better if they flee out of fear rather than displace us in our own home".

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Burns, who had bought an axe from Screwfix on the day of the attack, said that she intended to "kill him or injure the man".

During an assessment by a mental health practitioner, Burns was asked how she felt about being arrested for attempted murder. She replied "fair enough".

When asked if she had any thoughts or plans to harm others, she said she "would go on again but to succeed".

She also asked if the attack was "in the news yet?".

Burns pleaded guilty to attempted murder, and three charges of carrying a bladed weapon in a public place.

She denies having a terrorist motive. The judge will rule on the issue at her sentencing in May.

(c) Sky News 2026: Nazi-obsessed teenager described herself as 'embodiment of hell' before launching axe attack