MINISTERS have been urged to do more to tackle misogynist extremism online after it emerged the Plymouth shooter expressed sympathy with the “incel” community. 

Jake Davison has been identified as the gunman who killed three women, two men and a young girl in a six-minute shooting rampage in the Keyham area of Plymouth, Devon, on Thursday evening. 

Mr Davison, who had a firearms licence, then turned the gun on himself. The attack was Britain’s deadliest mass shooting since 2010. 

Chief Constable Shaun Sawyer of Devon and Cornwall Police told reporters today that it is believed the first female victim and Davison were possibly related. 

He said no motivation had yet been identified for the attacks, but added: “We are not considering terrorism or a relationship with any far-right group.”

However a series of videos posted on the gunman’s YouTube channel appear to show an affiliation to the deeply misogynistic “incel” subculture — short for involuntarily celibate. 

Emerging in the 1990s as a “lonely hearts club,” the incel subculture has since transformed into a hate space for men who believe their lack of sexual and romantic success is involuntary and the fault of feminists and women. 

In one of his videos, Mr Davison says most women “are very simple-minded and they ain’t all that bright.

“Why do you think sexual assaults and all these things keep rising … because the reality is that women don’t need men no more [sic], and they certainly don’t want and don’t need average men, and below average,” he ranted. 

In another video he refers to the “blackpill” ideology, the fatalistic idea that a man’s ability to get a girlfriend and his chances at life are determined by genetics. 

The subculture has been linked to several mass murders since Elliot Rodger, 22, killed six people in Isla Vista, California, in May 2014. The attack triggered a series of copycat attacks by members of incel communities, who held up Mr Rodger as a “hero.” 

Mr Davison also appeared to be obsessed with US gun culture, and followed Ukip and its former leader Nigel Farage on Facebook, as well as far-right media outlet Breitbart, French far-right figurehead Marine Le Pen and the far-right social media personality Katie Hopkins.

MPs and campaigners called on ministers today to tackle online extremism. 

Labour MP Bell Ribeiro-Addy, who has previously called for ministers to include protections against the rising threat of incel culture in the Domestic Abuse Bill, said: “These murders are a stark reminder of the serious threat posed to women in particular by incel culture.

“We can no longer view incels as harmless online hate groups. At the root of incel ideology is a deadly hatred for women and society, and that manifests in violent acts of terror. 

“The government needs to be legislating against these hateful groups and taking steps to protect vulnerable men from being exposed to this toxicity.”

A spokesperson from anti-extremism group Hope Not Hate said it was too soon to say what motivated the killings but added: “Whatever happened in Plymouth, the hatred of women — and the communities of men who engage in a celebration of that hatred online — must be taken seriously, in schools, by social media firms and by government.”

Campaigners said authorities have failed to tackle the growing threat of anti-women extremism online because misogyny is not taken seriously enough. 

Feminist historian Louise Raw told the Morning Star: “It’s such a big problem and its a two-fold one; firstly people are just not on top of what is happening, but secondly we don’t take misogyny seriously and we don’t take murderous misogyny seriously.”

Ms Raw said police forces and the media were too quick to dismiss widespread attacks against women, including domestic abuse, in society as “isolated incidents.”

“We don’t join them up, we don’t say femicide is happening and that has allowed the incels a pass,” she said. 

“There have been dozens of murders in America, by incels, radicalised by the far-right, and it just isn’t understood or taken seriously, and it’s because it’s women. It’s because women are the victims.

“We need to tackle incels exactly as we would any other group of potential terrorists. They’re dangerous, they’ve killed a lot of people, and they will kill a lot more.”