WHITE supremacist Ethan Stables has been given an indefinite hospital order at Leeds Crown Court after plotting to carry out a machete attack at an LGBT event in Barrow.

Ethan Stables was arrested by armed police as he made what prosecutors described as a final reconnaissance visit to the New Empire last summer.

Following his arrest on June 23 last year, officers later discovered he had kept a machete, an axe and knives at his home, which were supposedly instruments for carrying out the attack.

Social media posts to far-right pages revealed he was intent on "going to war" and wanted to "slaughter every single one" of the LGBT event-goers.

Officers discovered that, as well as researching firearms, he had also looked into methods for making a bomb.

Police found he had Googled "how to make chemical poison", "what is prison like for a murderer" and "I want to go on a killing spree".

Analysis also revealed he had been researching methods for making a bomb from matches, and kept a collection of cut-off matches in his flat, having spent seven months researching firearms.

During his trial at Leeds Crown Court, prosecutors claimed he had a "deep-seated hatred of black, Jewish, Muslim and especially gay people", with the defendant saying he had been "brainwashed" by right-wing extremists he met while living in hostels.

Jurors were told how Stables, who had been diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome prior to his arrest, promoted homophobic, racist and Nazi views online.

They were also shown a picture of a swastika hanging from Stables' bedroom wall, and a video of him claiming "gays look nicer on fire" while setting a rainbow flag alight.

Through his phone, he supposedly communicated his hatred for Muslims and Jews, with one WhatsApp message reading: "My country is being raped.

"I might just become a skinhead and kill people."

In his evidence he claimed he was a fantasist and a bisexual.

He argued that, at the time of his arrest, he was looking to use free public WiFi, but prosecutors said he was intent on murdering multiple people and was carrying out a final reconnaissance visit to the pub.

Stables, who was diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder before his arrest, was convicted of preparing an act of terrorism, making threats to kill and possessing an explosive substance in suspicious circumstances.

Following his conviction on February 8, his barrister Patrick Upward QC told the Recorder of Leeds, Judge Peter Collier QC, that Stables led a "melancholy life" up to the day of his arrest and lived in "almost squalid conditions".

Mr Upward added that his client "bears no comparison with the men who attacked Corporal (Lee) Rigby," and that he did not have the "wherewithal" to follow through on the plan.

Prosecutor Jonathan Sandiford told the judge that Stables had intended to attack multiple persons and had looked at a number of ways of doing it.

Giving him an indefinite hospital order on Wednesday, the Recorder of Leeds, Judge Peter Collier QC, told Stables he posed "a very real risk to the public".

Judge Collier said the defendant had been spared a conventional prison term because of the "severe" nature of his mental health issues, and instead used sections 37 and 41 of the Mental Health Act when delivering sentence.

It means Stables cannot be released from detention in hospital until a decision is taken by a mental health tribunal or the justice secretary.