An army cadet officer who trained teenagers was drummed out after he was exposed as the leader of the BNP in Scotland.
A shocked mum complained to top brass after learning Company Sergeant Major Gary Raikes was the racist political party's top man. Raikes trained boys and girls aged between 12 and 18 as a part-time officer at the Army Cadet Force's 2nd Battalion C Company in Boddam, Aberdeenshire.
He was accused of abusing his position to peddle the far-right party's vile views.
The mum, from Turriff, said: "I withdrew my son after Raikes tried to use my child for one of his BNP stunts. He had the temerity to use one of the pictures on his sick website. It is disgusting and a misuse of trust. It is deeply worrying given he is making inroads into the vulnerable minds of children."
Raikes works for Scottish Water and lives in a caravan on a farm near Turriff with his wife Samantha. He said: "I have nothing to say about the army issue. It is nonsense to suggest I was trying to indoctrinate young cadets. The mainstream political parties are scared of us. It's a plot against us. I'm not saying any more. You'll say we're all racist anyway."
After the mum's complaint, army bosses asked Raikes to discuss the issue but he repeatedly failed to attend meetings and was eventually sacked.
An Army Scotland spokeswoman said: "We would not stop anyone from joining a political party but if those views do not accord with the views of the Army we would want to ensure that the person involved kept his beliefs to himself while training others, especially children. We wanted to discuss his views with him but he just never turned up again."
Raikes became the BNP's Scottish leader after UK chief Nick Griffin ousted Glasgow-based Kenny Smith in a bitter power struggle. Smith denies he was responsible for last week's leaking of the personal details of around 12,000 members - including Raikes, who is hated by those loyal to Smith
Sunday Mail
November 23, 2008
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4 comments:
typical that the spineless b*st*rd raikes disnae turn up for anything that he can't handle.
scotland hates him but not as much as griffin.
What is it that attracts BNP members to the company of children?
The mind boggles what Raikes got up to, in the barracks.
They believe that they can influence those that still do not have an opinion - that is children - look at the focus of their present campaigns. They realise that anyone who has any experience of the real world can see their rubbish for what it is.
Mr Kemp likes to quote the Jesuit belief - once a catholic, alwyas a catholic, meaning that if you brainwash at an early age you have your convert forever.
Despite their various goings on and infidelities, they also like to hide behind the mantle of "family values" - this translates into meddling with the youth (unfortunately in more ways than one!)
Scotland isn't run by Raikes as he's taking his orders from Baillie. Baillie and Griffin are very very close.
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