Eastcote teen Joel Titus banned from protests by far right EDL

An Eastcote teenager has been banned from attending protests by far-right group the English Defence League.

Joel Titus, 19, of North View, who has been violent at EDL protests, was slapped with an antisocial behaviour order (ASBO) at Uxbridge Magistrates Court on Friday. The court heard about the teenager's involvement in a string of incidents between 2009 and 2010, which police say were overwhelmingly related to EDL protests.

Titus was barred from entering or loitering outside mosques or Islamic prayer rooms, attending any EDL demonstration, or visiting an area of Whitechapel for three years. He is not allowed to be part of a group of ten or more people, whose actions could cause alarm or distress, display a sign or placard, or use defamatory or insulting language which could cause alarm or distress.

Detective Constable Andy Haworth, from the national domestic extremism unit, said: "We hope this anti-social behaviour order will show people we will not tolerate violence being used at legitimate lawful protests."

Edmund Hall, London ASBO specialist at the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), said: "Mr Titus' activities were not simple political protest when he became involved in public disorder and violence. Where that sort of activity is present, police and the CPS will seek to control the freedom of that individual through prosecution and antisocial behaviour orders.”

The hearing was brought after Titus was convicted for a public order offence and resisted arrest at a pub in Hillingdon, in December 2010.

Harrow Times

Thanks to Zaahid for the heads-up

EDL thug may be allowed to continue studies at University of Birmingham

An English Defence League thug jailed for his part in a soccer riot could still be allowed to take up a place at a Midland university

A-level student Joel Titus, 18, was caught on CCTV throwing objects and brawling with rival hooligans. His defence team asked an Old Bailey judge not to jail the EDL ringleader after he pleaded guilty to affray, as he had secured a place at the University of Birmingham. But Titus, who has a string of previous convictions including battery of a journalist, possession of a knife, and making threats to police, was sentenced to nine months.

Yet the teenager has NOT been banned from taking up his place at the University of Birmingham upon his release. A spokeswoman said: “We do not want to deny an applicant a place because of youthful indiscretions, especially when there is genuine remorse expressed. However, we must take into account our wider responsibilities to the whole student body and to the wider community.

‘‘Criminal convictions, which must be declared by prospective students, are considered on a case by case basis. These discussions may also involve an applicant’s probation officer where relevant. We do not discuss individual cases.”

Titus had acted as a youth organiser for the EDL and even appeared on the BBC’s Newsnight to defend the violent anti-Islamic group.

He was cautioned for battery after punching a journalist at a demonstration against the ‘Islamification of Europe’ in December 2009. Last summer Titus took part in the soccer riot between Brentford and Leyton Orient supporters in central London. He was captured on CCTV hurling objects at rivals and fighting over a wooden pole with another thug.

Titus later told police he was an Arsenal fan and had been out that night celebrating the end of the football season, when he had become involved in the brawl.

At his sentencing Veronica Ramsden, defending, said he had “done well academically”. She said he was studying for A-levels including media studies, aiming for an A-grade, and that he planned to go on to Birmingham University to pursue a degree. Miss Ramsden said Titus was “heartily sorry” to have been involved in the violence. But while on bail for the football brawl he was also convicted for threatening behaviour for snarling “f*** off” at a police officer who tried to break up a fight. He is due to be sentenced for that offence at Uxbridge Magistrates’ Court in May.

The EDL has held violent protests on the streets of Midland towns and cities including Birmingham, Stoke and Dudley over the past two years. The anti-Islamic group has been involved in running battles with anti-facist protesters and local Muslim groups.

An EDL protest in Leicester in February was policed by more than a thousand riot cops.

Sunday Mercury

Thanks to NewsHound for the heads-up

English Defence League member jailed for football fight

A prominent member of the English Defence League has been jailed for nine months for taking part in a pre-arranged “pitched battle” between football hooligans.
Joel Titus, 19, took part in the bloody brawl between Brentford and Leyton Orient supporters outside Liverpool Street station in central London in May last year.

The A-level student was captured on CCTV hurling objects at rivals and fighting over a wooden pole with another thug.

Titus had previously been cautioned for battery after punching a journalist at a right-wing demonstration against the “Islamification of Europe” in December 2009, the Old Bailey heard.

Earlier this year he was found guilty of threatening behaviour after swearing at a police officer who tried to break up a fight.

He is reported to be a youth organiser for the EDL and has appeared on the BBC Newsnight programme talking about his role in protests.

Titus, of North View, Pinner, north-west London, appeared in court alongside five other men, all of whom admitted a charge of affray at earlier hearings.

Dean Wells, 22, of Isleworth, west London, was jailed for 12 months while David Mitchell, 19, of Littlehampton, West Sussex, was given seven months and Andrew Hudson, 26, of Hornchurch, Essex, received an eight-month sentence.

Steven Donovan, 20, of Hayes, Middlesex, and Thomas Armstrong, 24, of Woodford Green, Essex, were each given suspended six-month sentences.

Judge Timothy Pontius said the men had taken part in a “disgraceful display of violence” that terrified ordinary people using a busy railway station and put them at risk of harm from bottles thrown across the street.

He said the “pitched battle” must have been a “frightening spectacle” that required a “firm deterrent message” from the court.

London 24

EDL youth facing jail over brawl

A teenager from north-west London who is a prominent member of the English Defence League (EDL) is facing jail over his role in a pre-arranged fight between football hooligans.

Joel Titus, 18, took part in the bloody brawl between Brentford and Leyton Orient supporters outside Liverpool Street station in central London in May last year. The A-level student was captured on CCTV hurling objects at rivals and fighting over a wooden pole with another thug.

Titus had previously been cautioned for battery after punching a journalist at a right-wing demonstration against the "Islamification of Europe" in December 2009, the Old Bailey heard. Earlier this year he was found guilty of threatening behaviour after snarling "f*** off" at a police officer who tried to break up a fight.

He is reported to be a youth organiser for the EDL and has appeared on the BBC Newsnight programme talking about his role in protests.

Titus, of North View, Pinner, appeared in court alongside five other men, all of whom admitted a charge of affray at earlier hearings. They are: Dean Wells, 24, of Isleworth, west London; Steven Donovan, 20, of Hayes, Middlesex; Andrew Hudson, 26, of Hornchurch, Essex; David Mitchell, 19, of Littlehampton, West Sussex; and Thomas Armstrong, 24, of Woodford Green, Essex.

All six were remanded in custody to be sentenced on Wednesday.

Copyright © 2011 The Press Association. All rights reserved.

Press Association

Thanks to Abu for the heads-up

EDL - Nazi Salutes, Guns and Knives

People oppose the EDL because of what it is, not because of what some EDL activists say they'd like it to be, and the facts are simple - the EDL is being used as a Trojan Horse by Nazis and BNP activists.


Whether EDL leaders planned it that way is a moot point, but EDL leaders Stephen Yaxley-Lennon and Chris Renton (aka John Sheridan) are BNP, Jeff Marsh (aka Joe Casuals) promotes Nazi music in his blog and says he supports voting BNP, Paul Ray says he's NOT anti-BNP but he was shunned by EDL leaders for opposing Renton linking with Nazis, Joel Titus says he opposes the BNP but accepted BNP activists as friends on You Tube, and EDL poster-boy Guramit Singh is a proven racist.
Other movers and shakers in the original EDL include NF activist David Tull and BNP activist David Cooling. With that kind of leadership, of course it's the EDL's fault Nazis turn up at EDL demos!



Thanks to UK Fightback

'Patriotic' English Defence League exposed as racist, violent thugs

Welcome to ED-Hell: Fan of EDL during London demo

The repulsive race-hate face of the English Defence League is unveiled today by the News of the World

A three-month probe by our undercover investigators exposes the TRUE nature of the organisation that claims to be patriotic, non-violent and non-racist. In reality the EDL is backed by a bunch of bigots, football thugs, and BNP defectors dedicated to promoting race war on Britain's streets.

Our reporters witnessed the EDL's sickening booze and drug-fuelled protest marches across Britain. As well as disgusting abuse directed at Asian and black Britons, our team also unmasked a leading figure declaring his hatred of "Pakis". A teenage youth leader also bragged about his role in footie violence while members boasted of snorting cocaine before protests.

Earlier this month, 400 EDL supporters were on hand to welcome reviled right-wing Dutch MP Geert Wilders during his trip to London. He was promoting his 15-minute film, which urges Muslims to rip up the Koran. As Wilders spouted anti-Islamic messages, EDL members - hidden behind scarves and hoodies - cheered in support. Later, scuffles broke out between EDL supporters and protesters from Unite Against Fascism (UAF), resulting in 50 arrests.

The EDL insists it is a "multicultural organisation" which has "no issues with Muslims who wish us no harm". Yet its appearance on the streets of Luton, Birmingham, Nottingham, Stoke and London in recent months has resulted in trouble.

One of EDL's leading figures Gurjamit Singh, 28, has previously declared in public: "We are not here to be anti-Muslim." Yet in private, our investigators found Singh, a British-born Sikh, failed to practice what he preaches. Stood with a group of beer-swilling EDL supporters shortly before the recent London march, Singh spat: "I f*****g hate the Pakis. India needs to go to war with Pakistan."

Menacingly, Singh told our undercover man he could "sort" any problems he was having with local Muslims. He said: "Let's say you've got a problem with Islamification in your area. Let me know and I will try and sort it out. That's my own little thing - know what I mean?"

When approached by News of the World last night, Mr Singh insisted he wasn't a racist but admitted: "Yes, I said that. It was a comment made in the heat of the moment."

There is also a rapid growth of football hooligans in the EDL - typified by Joel Titus, an 18-year-old Arsenal and Brentford yob. Titus told our investigators he was recruited by Casuals United, a far-right group of football hooligans led by Jeff Marsh, a thug who served two years in jail for stabbing two Manchester United fans.

In January, ahead of a demonstration in Stoke, we filmed EDL members on a coach drinking and boasting of using cocaine. We watched as the booze-fuelled yobs then clashed with police. Toasting the trouble in a pub afterwards, Titus bragged: "One of the policewomen had her hat taken off and she got smashed to f***."

Worryingly, EDL is attracting disaffected members of the BNP too. One of their co-founders is Chris Renton, a former BNP supporter. Before the Stoke march, he wrote an uncompromising message on EDL's website. It read: "If Stoke o.b. (Old Bill) bus us out of town, we'll declare war and come back next Saturday."

We have made our dossier, which includes video footage, available to the authorities.

NotW

English Defence League cracks begin to show

The English Defence League was born in 2009, but as we begin 2010 Simon Cressy wonders whether the EDL is about to self-destruct

The year 2009 could be described as a seesaw year for the newly formed English Defence League. Responding to a protest in Luton in March by the extreme Islamist al-Muhajiroun group against troops of the Royal Anglian Regiment returning from the war in Afghanistan, local football hooligans organised a counter-demonstration under the name United People of Luton. They in turn linked up with hooligans associated with a variety of football clubs across the UK.

Using social networking websites such as Facebook as their means of communication, the hooligans concluded that Islamism was a national problem and they had to put aside club rivalries. By the summer the English Defence League had been born and was holding demonstrations across some of the major cities of England, with smaller ones in Wales and Scotland as the embryonic Welsh and Scottish Defence Leagues.

Hands up all you nazi boys: Liam Pinkham (left) and Jerry “Wurzel” Watson

All seemed to be going well for the EDL, but evidence has emerged that splits and divisions are rife within the organisation.

The EDL has always insisted that it is not nazi or racist, even going to the length of holding a sham press conference complete with a pre-planned burning of a swastika flag. However elements in the EDL leadership are quite prepared to accept members of nazi groups as long as they behave themselves, much to the chagrin of more moderate members.

Joel Titus, the violent teenage leader of the EDL’s youth wing, has voiced loud concern, along with several other members of “the inner circle”, over the glib acceptance of known nazis such as Liam Pinkham of the British Freedom Fighters. Pinkham and his mentor Mike Heaton have been regulars at EDL events since Luton. The EDL inner circle has been well aware of this, yet has refused to distance itself from them.

Pinkham received a four-month prison sentence, suspended for two years, with 200 hours’ community service and two years’ supervision back in July after he burst into the News from Nowhere community bookshop in Liverpool and threatened the female owners. Pinkham, from the Wirral, was taking part in a British National Party march through Liverpool city centre at the time. The women, who were justifiably terrified, testified that Pinkham threatened to “burn down the shop”.

This comes on top of Heaton’s arrest in December by the North East Counter Terrorism Unit. Heaton is currently on bail charged with soliciting murder and using threatening, abusive or insulting words likely to stir up racial hatred. That will no doubt stick in the craw of Titus, who is of mixed race and claims Martin Luther King is his hero.

Following a recent demonstration in London, EDL supporters led by Titus clashed with Nazi-saluting Chelsea hooligans, leaving one of the Chelsea fans hospitalised. It is reported that Titus now wears a stab vest in fear of reprisals following threats made on the Stormfront nazi web forum.

A closer look at the EDL inner circle reveals why its members may be reluctant to jettison their nazi friends. One of the global moderators on the EDL internet forum is Sean Corrigan of St Albans. Posting under the moniker “Road Rage”, what Corrigan fails to tell Titus and the more moderate wing of the EDL is that he is a gold member of the BNP.

(left to right) Chris Renton, Joel Titus, Matthew Kaplan and Leisha Brookes

Another in the EDL inner circle is Chris Renton, a BNP activist from Weston-super-Mare, who now appears to be using the online name “John Sheridan” and controls a large number of EDL Facebook groups.

One who recently fell foul of Renton is the veteran Bristol EDL activist Jerry “Wurzel” Watson, whom Renton blacklisted following allegations, strongly denied by Watson, of theft of a charity box. This led Watson to side with Paul Ray, the increasingly flaky self-styled “spiritual” leader of the EDL. Ray has formed his own St George’s Division of the EDL and has titled himself “Grandmaster Ray”, despite being disowned by the official EDL.

Another leading EDL activist now sidelined is the bullish Leisha Brookes. An ever visible member of the EDL, Brookes has led the women’s division and acted as the group’s police liaison officer. However, her abrasive nature is not to everyone’s taste in the EDL. One person in particular who has had numerous clashes with her is Matthew Kaplan, a Jewish student from Seattle who is studying history at King’s College, London.

Kaplan is the paid EDL publications coordinator, responsible for leaflets and press releases. He has been seen at several EDL demonstrations complete with Israeli flag. He has clashed on several occasions on the official EDL Facebook group with Leisha Brookes and her supporters for a number of reasons, mainly because he is an American.

Brookes has declared that she doesn’t trust him and accused him of working for the police. Kaplan revealed that Brookes and her colleagues threatened to attack him if he turned up at the Nottingham EDL event on 5 December.

Other leading EDL members have accused her of posting racist comments on the EDL internet forum. Whatever the truth behind the fallout, Brookes has definitely been removed as the EDL’s police liaison officer and is no longer in charge of the women’s division.

It is believed that the new EDL police liaison officer is none other than Corrigan, the BNP gold card carrying member from St Albans.

Hope not hate