---
born: 2002
category: Extremism & Violent Networks
created: 2026-05-22
location: Cardiff, Wales
summary: Luca Benincasa was a Cardiff neo-Nazi sentenced to nine years and three months
  at Winchester Crown Court in January 2023, becoming the first person convicted under
  the UK proscription of Feuerkrieg Division for membership in a proscribed organization
  and possession of bomb-making materials.
tags:
- Person
- FeuerkriegDivision
- O9A
- NeoNazi
- Accelerationism
- UK
- Wales
- TerroristConviction
- CSAM
- UKTerrorism
updated: 2026-05-22
---

Luca Benincasa, 20, of Cardiff, specifically the Whitchurch area, was the first person convicted in the United Kingdom of belonging to [Feuerkrieg Division](/organizations/feuerkrieg-division/) following its proscription under The Terrorism Act 2000 (Proscribed Organisations) (Amendment) (No. 2) Order 2020 (SI 2020/743) on 17 July 2020. He pleaded guilty at Winchester Crown Court on 15 July 2022 and was sentenced on 26 January 2023 by Judge Jane Miller KC to nine years and three months in a young offenders institution.[^1]

### Arrest and Searches

Counter-terrorism police raided both of Benincasa's separated parents' respective homes in Cardiff in January 2022. The searches produced a tactical vest, camouflage clothing, an SS officer's dagger and hat, a Nazi Party armband, masks, and a large quantity of white supremacist literature. Additionally, his digital devices contained bomb-making instructions and other material classified as information likely to be useful to a person preparing an act of terrorism.[^1]

Benincasa had served as a recruiter and described himself as a "prominent member" of FKD. He was identified as a key figure in FKD's UK operations in the period after the organization's reconstitution on Telegram in May 2021.

### Charges and Plea

At Winchester Crown Court, Benincasa entered guilty pleas to:

- one count of membership of a proscribed organization (the Feuerkrieg Division, proscribed under the Terrorism Act 2000)
- four counts of collecting or possessing information of a kind likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism (Terrorism Act 2000, s. 58), covering bomb-making instructions, on or before 1 February 2022

In a subsequent hearing, he also pleaded guilty to:

- three counts of possessing indecent images of children (ages 4 to 7)
- one count of possessing an extreme pornographic image
- one count of possessing a prohibited image of a child

The CSAM and terrorism charges were prosecuted together, following the pattern documented in multiple [764](/organizations/764-network/) and FKD cases in which CSAM possession coincides with and reinforces violent accelerationist activity.[^2]

### Sentence

Judge Miller KC imposed a total sentence of nine years and three months: five years and seven months for the terrorism offences, a consecutive eight months for the CSAM offences, plus a three-year extended licence on the terrorism counts. The sentence was to be served in a young offenders institution. Miller KC told Benincasa: "By 1st February 2022 you were calling yourself the UK cell leader of FKD and one of its recruiters," and concluded: "You were clearly a prominent member of the organisation." She described Benincasa as presenting a "serious risk" to the public.[^1]

The nine-year sentence was the longest imposed on any FKD-connected defendant in the UK to that point, exceeding [Luke Hunter](/people/luke-hunter/)'s four-year-and-two-month term (2020), the Cornwall teenager's 24-month rehabilitation order (2021), and [Paul Dunleavy](/people/paul-dunleavy/)'s five-and-a-half-year term (2020).

Press coverage of the case, including ITV News Wales and Tell MAMA reporting, described Benincasa as a "prominent ONA member." Whether the published sentencing remarks specifically use that language has not been independently verified from the primary text and constitutes an open thread.

[^1]: Tell MAMA UK. "Neo-Nazi Luca Benincasa jailed for terrorism offences and child abuse images." January 2023. https://tellmamauk.org/neo-nazi-luca-benincasa-jailed-for-terrorism-offences-and-child-abuse-images/; ITV News Wales. "Neo-Nazi, 20, from Cardiff jailed for being member of far-right terror group." January 26, 2023. https://www.itv.com/news/wales/2023-01-26/dangerous-neo-nazi-jailed-for-being-a-member-of-far-right-terror-group; Nation.cymru. "Cardiff man becomes first person convicted of belonging to neo-Nazi Feuerkrieg Division." https://nation.cymru/news/cardiff-man-becomes-first-person-convicted-of-belonging-to-neo-nazi-feuerkrieg-division/
[^2]: Counter Extremism Project. "Feuerkrieg Division." https://www.counterextremism.com/supremacy/feuerkrieg-division