The identity of a young man jailed for planning terror attacks in Auckland when he was a teenager can never be published because it could make him a target for extremist groups.

A High Court judge granted the 21-year-old permanent name suppression today, saying publication may lead to extremist groups reaching out to take advantage of the highly suggestible young man for “nefarious purposes”.

Justice Rebecca Edwards ruled that naming the young man would also expose him to toxic social media, further alienate him from society and create a risk of self-harm.

“Somewhat unusually, this is a case where the principles of open justice favour ordering suppression,” the judge said in a written decision.

The man was diagnosed with Foetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder and mild intellectual disability and has a history of severe deprivation, abuse, and social alienation, all of which contributed to his offending.

He was sentenced to two years and five months’ jail in March after pleading guilty to nine charges - one of threatening to kill and the rest of distributing and possessing objectionable publications.

Then a teenager, he planned the attack and kill 20 to 30 non-Muslims after years of isolation and online self-radicalisation.

Journal entries obtained by the police showed he had tried to carry out attacks three times - once bringing a kitchen knife to a hockey game and losing his nerve after encountering people who were nice to him.

“It was the kindness of strangers that stopped you that day,” Justice Edwards said when sentencing him at the Auckland High Court on March 8.

He was 16 when he first took an interest in ISIS in 2017.

Police tried but failed to engage constructively with him before an undercover officer contacted him on social media in 2021 posing as a fellow ISIS sympathiser.

In their conversations, the teen revealed he was ready to carry out a terrorist attack in Auckland, sharing a list of potential attack sites and extensive details about how and what he would do.

Shortly after an unrelated terror attack in a West Auckland mall supermarket where shoppers were stabbed, he told the officer he was “inspired” and ready to act.

He was arrested in September 2021 at his home, where police found an ingredient used to make TATP or triacetone triperoxide, an explosive compound favoured by suicide bombers.

Police also gained access to his Google Cloud account, which included videos where the teen swore allegiance to the Islamic State and claimed “Jihad and retribution against the New Zealand Government and New Zealand Society and in general against the West”.

A court summary said he was “ready for martyrdom and will commit a terror attack after he has done more research”.

He also told the undercover officer he wanted to travel to Syria to support the Islamic State.

Justice Edwards described his troubled upbringing, which included being bullied at school and dropping out at age 14 — and finding comfort in the internet amid his “extreme self-loathing” as he became increasingly isolated from the world around him.

“This gave birth to a deep-seated anger at the world,” she said. “...You sought belonging and also revenge.”

He was assessed as high risk in terms of re-offending.

- Qiuyi Tan, Open Justice