Self-proclaimed Nazi guilty of stirring up racial hatred Published duration 8 January 2018

image copyright Ian Taylor/Geograph image caption The man who cannot be named for legal reasons will be sentenced at a later date

A self-declared Nazi who called Jewish people "parasites" who should be "eradicated" has been found guilty of stirring up racial hatred.

The 22-year-old man from Lancashire, who cannot be named for legal reasons, committed the offences in speeches at far-right gatherings in 2015 and 2016.

He was involved with the now banned group National Action.

He denied two charges but was found guilty by a jury at Preston Crown Court and will be sentenced at a later date.

Jurors heard that in one speech, the defendant said Britain "took the wrong side" in World War Two by choosing to fight the "National Socialists who were there to remove Jewry from Europe once and for all".

'Deliberately controversial'

Referring to the Holocaust - which he claimed during his trial not to believe in - the man had told activists "that's what the Final Solution was."

He added that instead "we let these parasites live among us, and they still do" before going on to say "we let these people destroy us, and they are still destroying us now, and we're pointing fingers at the symptoms and not the disease".

He added: "You can call me Nazi, you can call me fascist. That is what I am."

In the other speech held in North Yorkshire, he called for Jews to be "eradicated" and said Nazi leader Adolf Hitler had been wrong to show "mercy to people who did not deserve mercy".

The man told jurors he was a Nazi and that the law courts were run by Jews, but said that did not mean he hated all Jews.

'Crossed the line'

Giving evidence, he said he was being deliberately controversial to provoke lively debate and shift views further to the right on the political spectrum.

Anti-racism group Hope Not Hate said after the verdict it was "pleased to have provided the impetus and the evidence for this prosecution" adding it had been a "frustrating" process.

Sue Hemming from the Crown Prosecution Service said in a statement: "This man intended to stir up hatred and wanted others to hate Jewish people like he does."

She added his remarks went "beyond protected free speech and crossed the line into vilifying a group using threatening and abusive language at public meetings".

Related Topics Racism