Tag Archives: court

2018/09/15

Nottingham National Action Ne’er-do-well in and out of Nick

By East Midlands Anti-Fascists

Another local far right eejit has been charged with terrorism activities for his involvement with neo-Nazi loons National Action.

On Wednesday 5 September, the BBC reported that he and a number of apparent comrades had been picked up in police “raids”:

Five people including a 17-year-old boy have been arrested on suspicion of being members of a banned far-right group.

Two men from Birmingham aged 22 and 28, a 23-year-old man and 22-year-old woman from Halifax and the teenager from Nottingham are being held by police in the West Midlands.

They are suspected of being members of National Action.

A number of properties are being searched following the arrests.

A separate report suggests the local lad was bailed while the others were remanded into custody.

On Monday it was reported that three of those arrested had been charged:

Garry Jack, 22, and Daniel Ward, 28, both from Birmingham, and a 17-year-old boy from Nottingham, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, were charged with being part of the group.

They are due to appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday.

National Action was founded in 2013. It made a reputation for itself with overblown rhetoric online, infamously celebrating the murder of Jo Cox MP. The group also made friends by displaying a banner insisting “Hitler was right”. (An odd position for a group whose politics seems closest to the Strasserites who Hitler tried to liquidate in the Night of the Long Knives.)

In December 2016, the group became the first British far-right group to be banned since the 1940s when it was made illegal under the Terrorism Act.

Since then there have been a string of raids and arrests picking up assorted members of the groups. Several have ended up serving prison sentences.

Locally the group has not had much obvious presence. Although they did claim to have (very briefly) turned up at Nottingham and Nottingham Trent Universities in 2015.

Whether the anonymous 17 year-old was an active member of just a loser following them online remains to be seen.

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2016/11/23

Another racist moron in court for terrorism offences

By East Midlands Anti-Fascists

Tomas Mair, the fascist terrorist who murdered Jo Cox MP in June this year has – to nobody’s surprise – been found guilty and jailed for life.

Mair is unusual amongst wannabe fascist terrorists in that he actually managed to kill somebody before he got caught. Nevertheless, as we’ve pointed out before, there have been no shortage of attempts over the last few years.

Just last week, Roger Smith, 46, of Summerwood Lane, Clifton, Nottingham went on trial at Nottingham Crown Court facing various charges under the Explosive Substances Act and Terrorism Act.

According to the Nottingham Post, Smith “had gunpowder, crossbows, knives and chemicals at his home because he wanted to defend the country from an attack from ISIS”.

We don’t know if Smith was a full-blown fascist, but like others on the far-right, Smith claims to believe that ISIS is an existential threat to our very society:

Prosecutor Michelle Heely told the jury: “He was asked about his views on Muslims and ISIS. He said that ISIS was a threat to the entire Western civilisation, and that if there was another Lee Rigby-style attack, he would be the sort of person who would help to stop it.

“He has it in his mind that he is going to defend the country from an attack by ISIS, and he has gathered his weapons, got his patriotic flags ready, and made explosives at home in order to do that.”

It’s hard to imagine many people would have slept better had we known Smith was looking out for us. Most likely, many people would have feared – with good reason – that he intended to use his new toys not for defence, but for attack.

Smith also described Islam as a “religion of terror”, a fairly standard Islamophobic canard.

Predictably the Post doesn’t use the words fascist, terrorist or even racist anywhere in it’s coverage, instead describing him as a “self-proclaimed survivalist”.

The BBC meanwhile, went with the headline “Accused ‘not an Islamophobic madman’,” because who hasn’t stockpiled weapons for the coming apocalypse?

Elsewhere in the media, the story has been largely ignored.

Would a brown-skinned person in the same situation be treated with the same kid gloves? Clearly not. Despite the conviction of Thomas Mair it’s clear that the clear and present threat of fascist terrorism continues to be of no interest to the mainstream media.

Smith – of course – denies the charges.

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2014/03/18

Far-right fantasist admits Leicester pub hoax

By East Midlands Anti-Fascists

The aptly named Joshua Bonehill-Paine has been hauled in front of Yeovil Magistrates Court for instigating an internet hoax about a pub in Leicester banning military personnel.

Far-right fantasist Joshua Bonehill-Paine

Far-right fantasist Joshua Bonehill-Paine

Bonehill-Paine is “the founder” of website The Daily Bale (“a news source which cares about the British people”). The site modestly claims that Bonehill-Paine “is now recognised as one of Britain’s most relentless and fearless names in the fight against left wing political correctness and left wing fascism, racism, intimidation, manipulation and left wing fascist bullying of the British people.”

Bonehill-Paine used the website to claim that The Globe had banned British armed forces, allegedly to avoid offending the immigrant population. This was, of course, a complete fabrication.

Bonehill-Paine’s lie attracted interest from all the usual mouth breathers and there were threats to firebomb the presmises and attack or kill staff. According to Chris Bulaitis, managing director of the pub group, “We had over 1,000 calls on the Saturday of people threatening to firebomb the pub, beat up the staff, who believed, absolutely believed, that we had banned military personnel. The only thing we could do was shut the pub for the safety of the customers and our staff.”

It will come as little surprise to anybody who casts even a cursory glance over the Daily Bale, but this was not Bonehill-Paine’s first hoax. According to the BBC:

Bonehill-Paine and the Daily Bale have been responsible for other false claims published online but he has not been prosecuted over these.

Last year his website created a hoax missing person poster, claiming a six-year-old girl had been “kidnapped by an Asian grooming gang”.

The hoax poster went on to be shared thousands of times on Facebook and Twitter, with many people believing the claim to be true.

Speaking to BBC Asian Network, Bonehill-Paine said he wanted to create “a shocking campaign” that people would “share quickly on social media”.

Another article posted on the website in September falsely claimed an Asian youth had punched a two-month-old baby twice in the face, then thrown the infant against a brick wall in Middlesbrough. It contained a graphic photo of an injured baby.

The 21-year-old, from Yeovil, admitted one charge of malicious communication. The hearing was adjourned and Bonehill-Paine will be sentenced on 4 April.

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2013/10/14

Teenager convicted for EDL graffiti in Leicestershire

By East Midlands Anti-Fascists

A 17-year-old from Oadby in Leicestershire has pleaded guilty to two charges of racially-aggravated criminal damage for leaving graffiti outside a Oadby Central Mosque.

The teenager scrawled “EDL” on a charity bin outside the mosque and on the building’s windows on two separate occasions.

The graffiti appeared in the aftermath of the murder of Lee Rigby in London and at the hieght of fears about a racist backlash. In a statement read out in court, Muhammed Katib, chairman of the mosque, which is also a community centre, told how Muslims were in fear of being attacked.

According to the Leicester Mercury,

[Katib] said: “This really rang alarm bells.”

After the killing of Mr Rigby, mosques had been set on fire.

“We were on red alert and very concerned about what had happened,” said Mr Katib.

“We were fearful that the mosque would be damaged or set on fire or people would be attacked.”

Mr Katib told how the mosque was watched 24 hours a day for a while, and worshippers stayed away for fear of being targeted.

The teenager, who cannot be named because of his age (although we’ll keep an eye on teh interwebs in case he’s stupid enough to identify himself on Facebook) clearly isn’t very bright and was arrested after police identified his tag on the graffiti. When police raided his home, they found pens which matched the colour of the graffiti on the bin.

When arrested, the teenager said that he had heard about the Rigby murder and did not like it.

Now (unsurprisingly) he has expressed regret for his actions, saying “I am sorry if I caused any grief or fear or anything.”

He was given a 12-month rehabilitation order with supervision. He will be electronically tagged for two months and must observe a curfew between 9pm and 7am every day.

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