A police probe has been launched into a leaflet posted to homes across Burnley and Pendle which blames Muslims for the heroin trade in Britain.
A British National Party councillor from Pendle and a former Burnley BNP election candidate are named in the leaflet as endorsing the views.
Councillors have called for Coun Brian Norton Parker, a BNP councillor for the Marsden ward in Nelson, to quit. But both he and John Rowe, a former BNP candidate for Rosegrove with Lowerhouse in Burnley, have spoken out in support of the leaflet.
Colleagues on Pendle Council are now considering reporting Coun Parker to their watchdog, the Standards Board, on suspicion of bringing the authority into disrepute.
Police have confirmed that an investigation has been launched into the leaflets - of which hundreds were delivered to homes - after a number of complaints were lodged with Lancashire Constabulary. The question of whether the leaflets amount to incitement to religious hatred is now being considered by Crown Prosecution Service lawyers.
Another inquiry looks set to be launched by the Royal British Legion, as the leaflets claim to be a 'Preston Pals' publication. The Pals represent a Lancashire regiment,the 5th Battalion, which endured heavy casualties in the First World War.
Coun George Adams, chairman of the legion's Nelson and district branch, said he was furious that the organisation's name has been linked to the "racist" flyer. The Walvderden councillor told a meeting of Pendle Council's Nelson committee: "I am asking if Coun Brian Norton Parker will distance himself from the leaflet as his name is on it."
Insp Russ Procter, of Lancashire Police, who was also in attendance at the meeting, said: "This leaflet has been distributed around Burnley, Pendle and Preston. I am also aware that this leaflet has been distributed in the Brentwood Road area and we have had a number of calls about it and we have passed this on to our hate crime unit. There is now a file which has been submitted to the Crown Prosecution Service. There are a number of residents who have been concerned."
Coun David Foster, Nelson committee chairman, added: "I think it is absolutely appalling that that sort of leaflet is being put out."
But Coun Parker declined to dissociate himself from the leaflet or its contents.
Coun Parker said: "I have been asked to apologise for it but I think that the heroin trade has to be highlighted because it causes so many deaths. One person dies every day in Scotland, I have read, because of heroin. This is a campaign by my colleague Tony Bamber which I support if it highlights the number of deaths from heroin."
Speaking after the meeting, Mr Rowe, of Cowper Street, Burnley, said: "I do not think that this (leaflet) is unreasonable."
A note on the leaflet says it had been produced by a Tony Bamber of Preston.
Burnley and Pendle Citizen
Police probe into BNP heroin leaflet
A British National Party member could face police investigations after he distributed hundreds of leaflets across Preston which blame Muslims for the heroin trade in Britain.
Tony Bamber, who stood in local elections for the BNP in Tulketh ward in 2006, denied being solely responsible for the distribution of the leaflets but admitted he was involved.
Mr Bamber, 52, said: "The leaflets are not making a comment about the Islamic religion, they are making a statement about the activities of Muslims. The leaflets were made by Preston Pals, a group of concerned indigenous people in the city."
The question of whether the leaflets amount to incitement to religious hatred is now being considered by the Crown Prosecution Service.
Detective Sergeant Graham Gallagher, head of the Hate Crime Diversity unit at the Lancashire Constabulary, said: "This leaflet has been distributed around Preston, Burnley, and Pendle. We received a number of complaints after the leaflet was distributed to a number of addresses and we have now submitted a file to the Crown Prosecution Service to see if we have sufficient evidence to progress with our inquiry."
Another inquiry looks set to be launched by the Royal British Legion, as the leaflets claim to be a Preston Pals' publication. The Pals represent a Lancashire regiment - the 5th Battalion - which endured heavy casualties in the First World War.
Mr Bamber, whose name appears on the leaflet, said he would continue distributing them.
Preston and Leyland Citizen
March 06, 2008
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5 comments:
Depends how loyal to Griffin the culptits are whether or not they will be disciplined. Griffinites are always persistantly let off because the bnp is sponsored by m15, and everybody who supports Cyclops is knowingly beyond the rule of law.
But this might be the straw that breaks the camels back! - I hope so.
Griffin's/ BNP are starting to worry me rather more than they were, particularly as their PR - (website etc.) seems to be looking rather better (no not better - apparently plausible would be a better phrase!)
Hopefully himself will screw up on Newsnight tonight. Although it will be promoted on their sit as a major victory!
It’s a bit rich for the nazi BNP to accuse others of drug dealing. The BNP has been involved in drug-dealing for years:
1) The BNP councillor in Blackburn, Robin Evans, resigned after he wrote a letter stating that the BNP in Blackburn was largely made up of drug dealers and football hooligans
(http://www.stopthebnp.org.uk/index.php?location=news&art=487)
2) The neo-terrorist group Combat 18 (founded by the BNP) undertakes large-scale illegal drug imports and deals to raise money for neo-nazi activities in the UK and abroad. Many BNP members are Combat 18 members. A number of Combat 18/BNP members are cocaine dealers.
3) Charlie Sargent, a convicted murderer, BNP member (he used to guard BNP founder and former leader John Tyndall) and senior Combat 18 leader, has convictions for drug dealing and trafficking.
4) Joey Owens, a BNP candidate in Merseyside and former bodyguard to BNP leader Nick Griffin, is a drug dealer, murderer and gangster (who also served served eight months in prison for sending razor blades in the post to Jewish people and another term for carrying CS gas and knuckledusters).
5) The BNP candidate for Huddersfield, Karl Hanson, was jailed for dealing in crack cocaine and heroin (in face he face five class A drugs offence charges)
6) Richard Brown, a BNP candidate in Kirklees, admitted he was jailed as part of a £100,000 drug ring! He pleaded guilty to intent to supply drugs.
7) John Shearer, leading member of Oldham BNP, is a convicted drug dealer.
8) Colin Smith, BNP South East London organiser, has a conviction for possession of drugs (in addition to 16 other criminal convictions for burglary, theft, stealing cars and assaulting a police officer)
9) Anthony Hancock, the notorious nazi printer and publisher, who has funded past BNP ‘Red, White and Blue’ festivals and prints for the BNP, was involved in a criminal case involving drugs (including trials for cheque fraud and forgery worth several million pounds. Also, Hancock admitted in court to associations with German, French and British terrorists, and has been accused by British authorities of involvement in a plot to forge passports).
The racist BNP councillor Brian Norton Parker isn’t exactly competent nor a genius. When Brian Norton Parker was first elected he went on holiday to Scarborough instead of attending his first council meeting at which five items on the agenda related directly to his ward.
I don't think failed BNP candidate John Rowe is the best judge on these sorts of things given that he recently helped bankrupt four of his fellow BNP supporters by launching an expensive and pointless legal claim against his Labour rival. John Rowe definitely lacks both foresight and hindsight. Glad fash Rowe lost.
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