Alina Burns, 19, attacked Mohammed Mahmoodi, 27, with an axe as he stood outside his barber’s shop in Bedminster, Bristol
Kirstie McCrum Deputy Head of News, Live News Network and Rod Minchin
16:03, 15 May 2026Updated 16:04, 15 May 2026
Alina Burns then aged 18, attacked Mohammed Mahmoodi, an Iranian Kurd, with an axe on August 2 last year(Image: CTPSE)
A teenager who developed an obsession with neo-Nazis and attempted to behead a Kurdish barber with an axe because she wanted to “kill all Jews and Muslims” has been sentenced to more than 15 years behind bars.
Alina Burns, 19, launched the attack on Mohammed Mahmoodi, 27, as he stood outside his shop in Bedminster, Bristol, in August last year. Bristol Crown Court heard that Burns had been driven by neo-Nazi extremism and had been in contact with far-right groups.
She had told a man on a dating app to “kill all Jews and Muslims” and had searched online for information relating to Jihad, the Southport stabbings, Jewish supremacy and Nazi Germany.
Serena Gates KC, prosecuting, told the court: “The prosecution case is that the defendant had an extreme right-wing mindset and wanted Jews and Muslims to be killed and non-whites to flee or be expelled from the UK. The day before the attack the defendant was watching videos of SS marches and sent an email called, ‘The dawn of civil war’.”
At an earlier hearing, Burns, of Lynton Road, Bristol, pleaded guilty to attempted murder and three counts of possessing an article with a blade or point — specifically an axe, a scalpel and two darts. She had denied a charge of engaging in conduct in preparation of terrorist acts, contrary to the Terrorism Act.
The Crown argued that, despite accepting the guilty pleas, a terrorist motivation underpinned the attack, a position accepted by the judge, Mrs Justice Lambert. Passing sentence, the judge said: “I have no doubt that you are a dangerous offender and you remain deeply entrenched in your abnormal belief system. You communicated with a man on an online dating app which at one stage you expressed the desire to kill all the Jews and Muslims in Britain, and also carry out a plan where you wished to take all the glory for carrying this out.
“There were Telegram chats with the Patriotic Alternative, a far-right group. “The leader of the Patriotic Alternative has made highly racist and homophobic comments in public.
“You also accessed large quantities of material reflecting extreme right-wing ideology.”
The judge stated that Burns met the threshold for an extended sentence for dangerousness. She handed down a custodial term of 15-and-a-half years plus an additional four-year period on licence.
Burns will be eligible to apply for parole after serving two-thirds of the prison term. The incident occurred on the afternoon of August 2 when Burns approached Mr Mahmoodi from behind and swung the axe — which she had purchased for the attack — at his neck, inflicting a small wound.
Mr Mahmoodi, who was considerably larger than the 5ft 2in Burns, managed to wrestle the axe away from her before she could strike him again. A nearby police officer heard the disturbance and attended the scene in East Street, where Burns was arrested. When asked why she had attacked the Kurdish-Iranian man, Burns told the officer: “Because I wanted to cut his neck. I would do it again, but to succeed.”
She subsequently told a Mental Health Act assessor that she was aware Mr Mahmoodi worked in the barbers, which she claimed was involved “in money laundering”.
“I know of him, he works in the Turkish barbers, I think they are money laundering and the police aren’t doing anything about it,” she said.
“So if I done this, then maybe the police would investigate the shop.”
Miss Gates told the court: “She further asked if it had been on the news yet. She said she wanted to influence people to do the same thing, but be successful.
“She stated she would do it again, but to succeed.”
Following Burns’ arrest, officers uncovered her connections to far-right groups and extremist ideology.
Five months prior to the attack, she had used an online dating app to communicate with a man, telling him: “I am the embodiment of hell and desire to amplify everything I bear witness too. I don’t want to end my life anymore. I plan on bringing change to the UK through means I can’t detail.”
She subsequently instructed him to “kill all the Jews and Muslims in Britain please”. The court heard that the man, who was not named during proceedings, reported the conversation to police. Officers discovered at her property handwritten notes concerning the “spread of Islam”, instructions on using fertiliser to create explosives, and information about nuclear weapons. There were also notes regarding German SS units that fought during the Second World War, Adolf Hitler’s book Mein Kampf, and the nationalist novel The Turner Diaries.
On her notebook computer was a copy of a terrorist handbook containing details about chemicals and IEDs. Burns had also utilised the Telegram messaging app to make contact with a representative of the British far-right group Patriotic Alternative.
In a victim personal statement Mr Mahmoodi said he had fled Iran because of persecution and had sought asylum in the UK.
“After this attack my life has completely changed,” he said.
“I cannot move my neck easily and the physical reminder of the scar where I was nearly killed is a daily reminder. My mental health has suffered and I am living in fear.
“My sleep in impacted and I wake up with bad dreams and nightmares of being attacked from behind with an axe. I am still living with the effects of the attack more mentally than I could have imagined.”
Andrew Langdon KC, defending, said Burns had experienced a difficult childhood due to her family being made homeless and living in a series of temporary accommodation.
“This is plainly a disturbing case for a number of reasons,” he said.
“My Ladyship’s primary concern will be for Mr Mahmoodi and for society.” Mr Langdon said that, despite both of Burns’s parents being teachers, the teenager had stopped attending full-time education at 14.
“The last three of four years of her life are spiralling descent and isolation, despite living with her family,” he added.
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