Tag Archives: terror

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

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.


Another racist moron in court for terrorism offences

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.