EXCLUSIVE Astonishing transformation of award-winning student to shaven-headed 'enemy of the state' who was referred to Prevent a YEAR before he tried to stab PC to death during terrorist attack on police station

Daily Mail​

2 days ago

As a fresh-faced 18-year-old, Alexander Dighton won a Wales-wide competition in advanced mechanical engineering.
At the time, the robotics enthusiast had aspirations to join the RAF as an engineer.
Yet just a decade later he had been transformed into a self-confessed 'enemy of the state'.
On January 31 this year – by now bearded and shaven-headed – the one-time star student single-handedly stormed a police station in one of the most peaceful parts of South Wales.
Armed with home-made weapons including a hatchet, he set a police van alight before hitting one officer and stabbing another, shouting: 'I'm fed up, I'm done'.
Attempts to overcome him with a Taser proved useless due to his thick, insulated body armour.
But despite their injuries the unarmed officers bravely overpowered Dighton, who later told police: 'I've been damned from birth.'
As the 28-year-old starts a 22-year jail sentence, questions are now being asked over his frightening transformation into softly-spoken, pipe-smoking airport worker to would-be police killer.
It can be revealed that Dighton was referred to the Government's under-fire counter-extremism Prevent programme by worried relatives 12 months before the attack.
In what almost proved a fatal misjudgement, he was assessed as not posing a serious risk and left to his own devices.
Dighton continued to radicalise himself in his tiny one-bedroomed flat in South Wales where neighbours would see him exercising in the courtyard at 4am.
He started planning his attack on Talbot Green police station near Pontypridd a month before turning up with home-made weapons, saying afterwards: 'Blood had to be spilled.'
Following his terrifying rampage, a family member warned of a 'systemic failure' in tackling the threat posed by self-radicalised loners.
They compared Dighton to Axel Rudakubana – who stabbed three children to death at a Southport dance class – and Jake Davison - who shot five people dead in Plymouth – who were both also referred to Prevent before launching their massacres.
'If all these individuals had Prevent referrals in place, why are the police not intervening, when it's the people closest to them making these referrals?' the relative asked.
Like Nicholas Prosper – who plotted to shoot primary school children in Luton – and Otley Run attacker Owen Lawrence, Dighton appears to have radicalised himself by viewing graphic and extreme content online.
His narrowly-averted attempted massacre is the latest example of the threat posed by violence-obsessed loners motivated by no coherent ideology.
At the age of 18, Dighton was studying engineering and parametric modelling at two colleges in South Wales.
He later moved to Preston, Lancashire before vanishing following a breakdown, leaving all his belongings behind in May 2022.
That prompted his worried family to report him missing to police.
They believe he may be autistic, although it is understood he was never formally diagnosed.
Returning to South Wales, Dighton moved into a one-bed flat in a new-build housing association estate in Llantrisant, a five-minute drive from the police station he would go onto attack.
He got a job manufacturing inflatable evacuation slides for aeroplanes at Cardiff Airport, cycling the 12-mile journey to work as he didn't own a car.
Neighbours on the well-tended development likened him to Sherlock Holmes because of his penchant for wearing an old-fashioned suit and greenish-brown waistcoat while smoking tobacco with a pipe.
He was also fond of a round "Amish-style" hat and used an old bicycle inner-tube as a belt for his trousers, telling some how he wished he had been born in the 1800s.
Dighton told them he 'wanted kids but he wasn't interested in women'.
Police chiefs have praised the bravery and professionalism of the five officers who came face-to-face with Dighton on the night of the attack
The flat was completely unfurnished, lacking even curtains, and he slept on the floor in a sleeping bag.
Neighbours nevertheless described him as 'pleasant' and having 'a heart of gold'.
"I'd see him in the morning smoking his pipe, and he'd doff his hat and say, 'Good morning to you, sir. Do you want anything up the shop?'' one said.
But they became increasingly worried about conspiracy theories he would spout after staying up late delving the darker corners of the internet.
'He'd stay up all through the night,' said one.
'He didn't have a TV but he'd be gaming and watching things on the internet."
In January 2024 – 12 months before he went on the rampage – a relative referred Dighton to Prevent.
The same family member contacted South Wales Police a fortnight before the attack with concerns about his behaviour.
Ahead of his sentencing they branded it a 'systematic failure'.
'It was highlighted to all the right people and it wasn't prevented,' the relative said.
'It raises the question: are police well-staffed enough? And mental health services that could have helped Alex have been cut.
'This was preventable. There has to be a policy change somewhere with regards to these radicalised individuals. The Prevent referrals are not preventing attacks.'
In the run-up to his rampage Dighton's behaviour became increasingly erratic.
'He was on about children getting sex education at the age of three," said the neighbour.
'And the police being child molesters and perverts.
'He told us he was on the dark web and he was 'looking into it deep''.
'He would talk about the government, then move onto the police, and then onto gaming, and then back to paedophiles.
'He had a massive problem with authority.'
Around this time Dighton began posting racist on X – formerly Twitter – under the profile @VulkantheJust, an apparent reference to a Warhammer character.
His profile has a blue tick awarded to users with a paid-for subscription, extending the reach of their posts.
His bio reads: 'Dammed [sic] before Birth.'
While his messages are only visible to followers, one user who responded branded him a 'little twit who thinks his failures are somehow the fault of 12 year old girls'.
Neighbours believe a trigger for Dighton 'cracking' was a dispute with a man who lived in the area.
They claim Dighton made allegations that the man had been smoking drugs but that police did not take any action.
Dighton's anger grew and on July 29 last year he committed a public order offence against the man, later receiving a conditional discharge.
His fixation on police intensified as he repeatedly complained they 'only see the things they want to see'.
One neighbour said a relative of Dighton had urged him to see a GP about his mental health but he refused and told the family member 'not to bother' with him anymore.
Despite receiving a promotion at work, around a month before launching the police attack he unexpectedly quit his job.
Neighbours said police attended over concerns for Dighton's welfare but he confronted officers, shouting: 'P*** off, don't come here.'
The day before the attack he shaved his hair - which neighbours said had grown to resemble Doc Brown from Back to the Future – and spent part of the night pacing back and forth outside the flats, smoking his pipe.
Condemning his 'disgusting' actions, one said: 'Why, Alex? The police were only doing their job.
'I am really gutted.'
In March Dighton - who represented himself - pleaded guilty to the attempted murder of a police officer.
He also admitted attempted grievous bodily harm, battery, attempted arson, possession of an offensive weapon, two bladed article offences and two of damaging property.
The Old Bailey heard that searches of Dighton's home uncovered journals revealing his fixation on anti-immigrant ideology.
Counter-terror police admit he slipped through the net – but insist there was nothing to suggest what he was planning.
Det Supt Andrew Williams, head of counter terrorism policing in Wales, said there was nothing to suggest he would go on to carry out such an 'horrific' attack.
Dighton was assessed by specialist officers over a three-week period over anti-immigration and anti-Islam views as well an interest in the involuntary celibate 'incel' movement.
'They interviewed him at length, they undertook due diligence checks and the conclusion was he did not meet the criteria required for inclusion onto the prevent programme,' he said.
'I must stress that there was absolutely no information or evidence that would suggest he would attack anyone let alone police officers outside Talbot Green as he did a year later.'
Dighton was heavily into the Dark Web and also obsessed with the fantasy game Warhammer where armoured miniature warriors use a variety of weapons to battle their foes.
He was wearing insulating body armour on the night he struck, and when officers tried to Taser him the electric shock had no effect. Pepper spray also failed to incapacitate him.
Dighton was carrying an axe, a hatchet, a pole with two blades attached to it and a knife along with a Molotov cocktail which he hurled at police as they came towards him.
Det Supt Williams said Dighton had developed a 'very firm hatred of the state' over his anti-immigration views and 'saw the police as a legitimate target' as a 'representative of the state'.
He had begun planning the police station attack around a month earlier, procuring the body armour plus an axe, hatchet, and knife.
Det Supt Williams said due to the short timescale 'I don't think there is anything that could have been done differently'.
Interviewed by police afterwards, Dighton said he wanted 'to do the maximum damage and cause as much injury to others as he possibly could' and that 'blood had to be spilled.'
Nicholas Prosper (left) who plotted to shoot primary school children in Luton after murdering his mother and siblings and Otley Run attacker Owen Lawrence (right) both radicalised themselves by viewing graphic and extreme content online
Detectives are in no doubt that he took his inspiration from the internet, gaming and far-right forums, saying he struggled to separate reality from fantasy.
Det Supt Williams said: 'He was a lonely individual, with challenges of his own, and he had ready access to material which is readily available online.
'He was a very keen gaming enthusiast and in some of his interviews he referred to the Warhammer type games.
'He identified with characters in that gaming methodology.
'It's a sad indictment of where we are that that stuff is readily accessible and he was freely able to discuss with other like-minded individuals online about their opinions, their thoughts and their mindset.
Det Supt Williams said 'lessons were always learned' when individuals like Dighton target the state for terrorist attacks.
'It is a very complex and detailed world that our officers operate in and are required to prioritise and make decisions based on assessments that they undertake on a daily basis,' he said.
Nevertheless the case will increase pressure to reform the Prevent strategy, which saw 6,884 referrals in the 12 months to March 2024 – two-fifths relating to children 15 and under.
Killers found to have been dismissed too readily by Prevent teams include Islamic State supporter Ali Harbi Ali who stabbed Conservative MP Sir David Amess to death during a constituency surgery at a church hall in Leigh-on-Sea.
Following the Southport dance studio attack a rapid review found Axel Rudakubana's referral had been 'closed prematurely'.
The Home Office is examining how to strengthen Prevent, including how it responds to cases where mental ill-health is a factor.
Chief Superintendent Stephen Jones, lead officer for Mid Glamorgan, praised the bravery and professionalism of the five officers who came face-to-face with Dighton on the night of the attack.
He said: 'The courage displayed by all officers is truly commendable, but it is important to recognise the profound impact these events have had on the officers themselves, their families and the wider community.
'Each officer is not just a public servant but a husband, a wife, a son, a daughter or a parent and their families are undoubtedly deeply affected by incidents such as these on a daily basis.
'Such an incident against our officers at their workplace serves as a stark reminder of the risks that can arise unexpectedly.'