Self-confessed Satanist was happy to be arrested

A Satanist who claimed he had made a ‘pact with the devil’ after he was caught with extreme right-wing material on his phone told a court he felt grateful when he was arrested.

Declan Candiani, 26, allegedly hoarded terrorist documents advocating the use of serious violence to achieve white supremacy along with manifestos of right-wing killers.

Candiani lived with his mother and has a tattoo of an 88 symbol said to be a white supremacist numerical code for ‘Heil Hitler’.

He denies collecting four documents likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism on or before 13 August last year.

He is accused of possessing documents ‘No Lives Matter Kill Guide’, ’21 Techniques to Silent Killing’, ’hater’s handbook v3’ and ‘Combat 18s Guide to Zog Opression’.

Candiani gave evidence today wearing a grey jumper over a patterned shirt with a black tie.

He told the Old Bailey he wanted to go to Helsinki for a relaxing holiday with his girlfriend.

‘I was going on holiday with my girlfriend for ten days,’ said Candiani.

‘We decided to take a break from London and from working. We were both pretty stressed out with our lives and we wanted to take ten days off to relax.’

Alex Jamieson, defending, asked Candiani: ‘As you went on holiday did it occur to you that your device might contain information of use to a potential terrorist?’

Candiani replied: ‘No, I was not aware.’

He said that he felt it was good that he was arrested because it gave him the opportunity to speak to someone.

‘I was sincerely grateful I could talk to someone. It was a good thing even though I went through a lot of emotional distress.

‘It was good because it pulled me back from the very dark path that I was going on, a very self-destructive path.

‘It was a wakeup call, a way for me to take a step back and realise that I was going on a self-destructive, negative path.

Mr Jamieson asked: ‘You told the police that interested in the occult, in satanism. You had developed a fascination with Nazism and there was a decline in your mental health.

Candiani replied: ‘I had an absentee father. My father and my mum broke up when I was three years old. It was just my mother and my godmother I grew up with.’

He explained that both his mother and his godmother were interested in astrology.

‘A lot of new age philosophy. My mother and my godmother were both into astrology, gemstones. I kind of got interested in that.

He said that when he was about 16 he became interested in demonology.

Mr Jamieson asked: ‘If I was going to do a beginners guide to demonology what would be the first thing you would learn?’

Candiani said: ‘You would learn about Belia, the Angel of Darkness.

‘You would learn his symbol. You would learn how to draw that symbol. You would be able to summon that demon to help you in any aspect of your life.’

‘I have always been quite a withdrawn person. I was drawn to the strength of these demons, they were larger than life personalities.’

Candiani told the court how he started drinking and taking drugs at college, and at one point he believed he saw Satan.

‘I saw the devil in a very traditional form, as a big red man with horns. I remember hims saying ‘You see me now Declan. You believe in me, worship me’.’

‘I remember being very shocked and very scared. From that point on it kind of escalated this kind of satanic interest.’

‘You told the officers that you entered into a pact with the devil’, said Mr Jamieson.

‘I did the pact a bit after that,’ he replied.

‘At the time, did it seem real or not?’

‘At the time yes, very real,’ said Candiani.

Following his arrest Candiani had told police: ‘I started to have hallucinations, because they’re a satanic group and I started hearing the voice of the devil, or some kind of demon inside me.

‘And during that time I made a pact with the devil and I signed it and I told him that I’d be like a minion, soldier.

‘So from that point on I felt that I had no control over a lot of my actions.’

But he said that he now no longer believes his pact with the devil was real.

Candiani is listed online as a professional dog walker, pet sitter and ‘cat runner’.

He is also listed on an acting website, saying he is available to play roles aged between 18 and 28.

Candiani, of Glenister Park Road, Streatham, southwest London, denies four counts of collection of terrorist information.

The trial continues.
ends