A self-confessed Nazi who called for the genocide of Jewish people has been jailed for three years for stirring up racial hatred.
By Edward Trower
The 22-year-old man from Lancashire was found guilty of two counts of stirring up racial hatred following a trial in January. He cannot be named for legal reasons.
Preston Crown Court heard that the man who cannot be named for legal reasons, committed the offences during a demonstration by a group named the North West Infidels on Blackpool Promenade in March 2016, and at a gathering of far-right extremists, the Yorkshire Forum for Nationalists, held the month before.
A member of the crowd replied: “Yeah, kill the f*****.”
Hate material discovered by police at his home included a poster that claimed “the Jewish master race” sought to turn 99% of the population into slaves. The judge described his words “as shocking and inflammatory as it is misguided”.
Wayne Jackson, defending, said: “He is a young man. He knows he is going to prison and it’s going to be a number of years he goes to prison for.” Unusually for a court case, the man’s lawyer had no words of mitigation or excuses for his vile client.
He said: “It may well be he has been impressionable in the past but he does what he does and he wouldn’t ask me or instruct me to make excuses.”
Sentencing, Judge Altham said: “The intent is very clear, he is trying to encourage a movement towards genocide.
“These are not idle comments said in the heat of the moment but intended to mobilise others.”
He added: “The defendant is resolute in his original views and withdraws nothing.”
Judge Altham dismissed an apology submitted in mitigation as “meaningless” at best, or “dishonest” at worst. He said: “He seeks to raise street armies, perpetrate violence against Jewish people and ultimately bring about genocide.”
The judge sentenced him to 18 months in prison, with an obligation that each offence is served concurrently.
The court heard the defendant had described Jewish people as parasites and called for them to be “eradicated” at the Yorkshire event where he spoke to delegates from other far-right organisations.
WRONG SIDE
The man’s hatred for Jews was so brazen that he told a Blackpool demonstration held on the town’s promenade, where passersby included families that Britain “took the wrong side” in the Second World War. Many attendants at the demonstration had clapped when the defendant said: “You can call me a Nazi, you can call me a fascist, that’s what I am.”
He concluded the speech by saying: “We need to start focusing on the real enemy, the real enemy is the Jew.”
