MPs urge crackdown on internet hatred

MPs have urged the European Union to take the lead in cracking down on antisemitic sites from far right and Islamist groups.

At the first major debate on antisemitism last Thursday at Westminster Hall, John Mann, chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group against Antisemitism, said he was frustrated with progress on the issue. He said: "Is it beyond the EU to have some common standards relating to the internet that would greatly enhance what has happened in this country? "

But he warned: "Despite the history of the origins of the EU, the Commission has never, ever seen antisemitism as part of its remit, which must change. Addressing the internet would be a good start."

The Department for Culture, Media and Sport is preparing a ministerial conference on dealing with internet hate. Noting a US initiative to challenge Google and Microsoft over antisemitism online, Mr Mann observed: "I am certain that if our colleagues in the US Congress can organise such meetings, we will in some way be able to get representatives, too."

His call was backed by LibDem MP Sir Alan Beith, who said: "Internet service providers will have to do a lot more to prevent the internet and social networking tools, which are of such immense value to so many people in the world, from becoming a source of terrible evil and a means by which evil is spread."

Mr Mann pointed to the success of prosecuting Simon Sheppard and Stephen Whittle, convicted of inciting racial hatred by posting stories such as"Tales of the Holohoax." It was the first case the Crown Prosecution Service brought involving the diffusion of race hate via the internet.

Louise Ellman raised concerns that those sites which went unchallenged were generally Islamist, coming from places like Saudi Arabia,, rather than those on the far right. But Denis MacShane said he did not believe antisemitism online was confined to extremist websites, saying: "I could bring to the House cartoons and articles in our main newspapers - our liberal newspapers, our left newspapers and our conservative newspapers - that precisely draw that moral equivalence between Israel and Nazism, which attempt to typecast all Jews as supporters of Israel who thus have a double loyalty."

Tom Watson was greatly concerned by rhetoric in the media, particulary that of TV host Glenn Beck of Fox News, whose shows are available in the UK. Last year, he noted, "Mr Beck and his guests invoked Hitler 147 times. Nazis, an additional 202 times. Fascism or fascists, 193 times. The Holocaust got 76 mentions, and Joseph Goebbels got 24."

A CST spokesman said: "This was an excellent debate that showed cross-party support for tackling antisemitism and a real understanding of our community's concerns. We must not forget or underestimate just how many good friends we have fighting our corner."

Jewish Chronicle

Internet racism pair lose appeal

Two men have lost their appeals against the UK's first conviction for inciting racial hatred via a foreign website

Simon Sheppard, 51, was sentenced to four years and 10 months, and Stephen Whittle, 42, to two years and four months at Leeds Crown Court in July. However, the Court of Appeal has reduced Sheppard's sentence by one year and Whittle's jail term by six months.

Sheppard, from Selby, North Yorks, and Whittle, of Preston, Lancs, controlled US websites featuring racist material. During their first trial in 2008, they skipped bail and fled to California, where they sought asylum claiming they were being persecuted for their right-wing views, but were deported.

The police investigation began after a complaint about a leaflet called "Tales of the Holohoax", which was pushed through the door of a Blackpool synagogue and traced back to a post office box in Hull registered to Sheppard. Published material found later included images of murdered Jews alongside cartoons and articles ridiculing ethnic groups.

The pair were charged under the Public Order Act with publishing racially inflammatory material, distributing racially inflammatory material and possessing racially inflammatory material with a view to distribution.

Sheppard, of Brook Street, Selby, was found guilty of 16 offences and Whittle, of Avenham Lane, Preston, was found guilty of five. Sentencing them, Judge Rodney Grant said he had rarely seen material which was so abusive and insulting. Sheppard's counsel Adrian Davies told the Appeal Court the sites were "entirely lawful" in the US. He said that there was no evidence that anyone in England and Wales - except for the police officer in the case - had ever seen any of them.

Giving the Court of Appeal ruling, Lord Justice Scott Baker said the material had been available to the public despite the fact that the evidence went no further than establishing that one police officer downloaded it. He said the trial judge had been right to hold that he had jurisdiction to try the pair because much of the activities constituting the crime took place in England. However, although the Appeal Court judges agreed that "this was truly pernicious material", the sentences handed down had been excessive.

BBC

Web racists challenge convictions

Sheppard (left) and Whittle were jailed after a failed bid to seek asylum in the US

Two men have started appeals against the UK's first convictions for inciting racial hatred via a foreign website

Simon Sheppard, 51, was sentenced to four years and 10 months, and Stephen Whittle, 42, to two years and four months at Leeds Crown Court in July.

Sheppard, from Selby, North Yorks, and Whittle, of Preston, Lancs, controlled US websites featuring racist material. Sheppard's counsel Adrian Davies told the Appeal Court on Thursday the sites were "entirely lawful" in the US. He said that there was no evidence that anyone in England and Wales - except for the police officer in the case - had ever seen any of them.

Referring to the jailed UK extremist Muslim cleric Mr Davies said: "Despite this, Mr Sheppard has been sentenced to a longer term of imprisonment than Abu Hamza," he told the court. "These are matters which, in my submission, ought to attract the closest and most careful scrutiny of the court of the supposed legal basis of these convictions."

During their first trial in 2008, Sheppard and Whittle had skipped bail and fled to California, where they sought asylum claiming they were being persecuted for their right-wing views. However, they were subsequently deported back to the UK.

The investigation began when a complaint about a leaflet called "Tales of the Holohoax" was reported to the police in 2004 after it was pushed through the door of a Blackpool synagogue. It was traced back to a post office box in Hull registered to Sheppard. Police later found published material including grotesque images of murdered Jews alongside cartoons and articles ridiculing ethnic groups.

The pair were charged under the Public Order Act with publishing racially inflammatory material, distributing racially inflammatory material and possessing racially inflammatory material with a view to distribution. Sheppard, of Brook Street, Selby, was found guilty of 16 offences and Whittle, of Avenham Lane, Preston, was found guilty of five. Sentencing, Judge Rodney Grant said that he had rarely seen material which was so abusive and insulting.

At the Court of Appeal on Thursday, Mr Davies said that the Act did not contemplate a situation where publication was in an electronic form but only in "hard copy" form. And publication did not result merely when a website was set up but only when someone actually looked at it.

The hearing continues.

BBC

The neo-Nazi 'asylum seekers'

Whittle and Sheppard - a pair of freaks by any standards

They looked like a pair of cranks straight out of a Louis Theroux documentary. One was an unrepentant woman hater whose racist and anti-Semitic views were too hard-line even for the British National Party. The other, his long-haired sidekick, sought the protection of a pseudonym that he used to make extremist rants.

Their hunger to stir up controversy saw them flee from justice in the north of England and stage an unlikely claim for political asylum in Los Angeles. But their journey has now ended with jail sentences in the UK.

Jurors at Leeds Crown Court decided neo-Nazis Simon Sheppard and Stephen Whittle were not just harmless oddballs, but dangerous propagandists dedicated to whipping up racism. On Friday, Sheppard was jailed for four years, 10 months and Whittle for two years, four months.

In a landmark case, they have become the first Britons to be convicted of inciting racial hatred online, having printed leaflets and controlled websites featuring racist material.

The court heard the investigation into the pair began when a complaint about an anti-Semitic comic book called Tales of the Holohoax was made to the police in 2004 after it was pushed through the door of a synagogue in Blackpool, Lancashire. It was traced back to a post office box in Hull registered to Sheppard, 51, a former BNP organiser kicked out of the far-right party after he was jailed in 2000 for distributing a racially inflammatory election leaflet.

The spotlight fell on the publishing activities of Sheppard, of Selby, North Yorkshire, a self-styled "scientific publisher", whose online ramblings took in a hatred of women and a morbid fixation with cannibalism. But a police investigation discovered that his prime motivation was racism and he dedicated himself to producing what prosecutors called "obnoxious and abhorrent'' books, pamphlets and web pages.

On his website, Sheppard employed Whittle, 41, of Preston, Lancashire, as a columnist under the pseudonym "Luke O'Farrell".

Although their vitriol was variously directed at black, Asian and other non-white people, most of the material shown to the jury was virulently anti-Semitic. The language and racial slurs used by the pair cannot be repeated here, but some of the excerpts presented to the court offered a flavour of their discourse. One leaflet claimed that Auschwitz had not really been the location of industrial mass murder but had been, instead, a holiday camp provided by a benevolent Nazi regime for Europe's Jewish population.

Jonathan Sandiford, prosecuting, told the jury that it held up survivors of the Holocaust to "ridicule and contempt", accusing them of lying about the genocide of six million Jews. Another story was illustrated with photographs of dead Jews. Sheppard also wrote that Holocaust victim Anne Frank's diary was "evil".

Reviewing lawyer Mari Reid, of the Crown Prosecution Service's counter-terrorism division, said members of the public were entitled under the law to hold racist and extreme views. But she added: "What they are not entitled to do is to publish or distribute those opinions to the public in a threatening, abusive or insulting manner either intending to stir up racial hatred or in circumstances where it is likely racial hatred will be stirred up."

The defence argued that the online material did not fall under the jurisdiction of UK law, because Sheppard's site was hosted on servers in California. But in a landmark ruling, the judge dismissed this - potentially paving the way for further prosecutions against the owners of other hate sites who believe they are exploiting a legal loophole. Jurors, too, rejected the defence's claim that the pair's writings were merely satirical.

Sheppard was found guilty of 11 offences and Whittle was found guilty of five offences in July 2008. Sheppard was found guilty of a further five charges in January 2009. But the pair were not in court to hear the verdicts against them. Before the jury in the first trial could return verdicts, both men fled to Los Angeles International airport and attempted to claim political asylum. But their bid was thrown out by an immigration judge, and they were held at Santa Ana prison in California until they were returned to the UK to serve their sentences.

The irony of two racists attempting to exploit the immigration and asylum system was lost on no-one who followed the case.

BBC

Racists Simon Sheppard and Stephen Whittle to be sentenced at Leeds Crown Court

Two racists who fled to America after being found guilty of publishing inflammatory material are to be returned to Britain to face justice.

Simon Sheppard, 52, of Brook Street in Selby, and 42-year-old University of York graduate Stephen Whittle, fled to America in the hope of claiming political asylum after being found guilty of running an internet race-hate campaign. Sheppard was found guilty of 16 charges relating to the possession, publication and distribution of racist material. Whittle, who is from Preston, Lancashire, was found guilty of five counts of publishing racially inflammatory material.

The pair fled to the US last July before they could be sentenced, expecting America’s free speech laws to protect them. Unfortunately for them they have spent the last 11 months locked up after becoming embroiled in the country’s asylum process. They are now due to be flown back to Britain, after Judge Rose Peters ruled they had not been persecuted in Britain in the past and were unlikely to face persecution in the future.

Ironically, if they had not claimed asylum with an airport official and instead walked off into the country and then found themselves an asylum lawyer, the pair may today have been living free in California.

In a prison interview with the Los Angeles Times, Sheppard said: “We thought they’d hold us for a day or so. We couldn’t see how they wouldn’t grant us asylum. The things we supposedly had done in Britain aren’t illegal in America. We came to the beacon of free speech in the western world, which turned out to be a complete fantasy. We’re not cowed and we’re not repentant. We have the right even to make mistakes. We could be wrong, it’s not inconceivable. We have a right to be wrong. All we’re doing is speaking our minds.”

The investigation into Sheppard and Whittle began when a complaint about a leaflet called Tales Of The Holohoax was reported to police in 2004, after being pushed through the door of a Blackpool synagogue. It was subsequently traced back to a post office box in Hull registered to Sheppard.

The pair are expected to be put on a plane for England next Tuesday, and to be sentenced at Leeds Crown Court the following day. Both are expected to be jailed.

The Press

Convicted racist to be deported from USA

Whittle (left) and Sheppard - overjoyed at the news of their imminent return to the UK

A Preston man, seeking asylum in the United States after being convicted of hate speech crimes in the UK will be deported after nearly a year in US custody.

Stephen Whittle, 42, and Simon Sheppard, 52, of Selby, fled in July 2008 after being convicted of publishing hate speech against Jews and other groups on their website. The men sought asylum under America's free speech protections, claiming they were being persecuted for their right-wing views.

They were taken into custody at Los Angeles International Airport when they asked a uniformed US official for help. An immigration judge ordered that the men be deported to the UK to face justice, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Sheppard and Whittle fled the UK last July during a trial at Leeds Crown Court after being released on bail while the jury deliberated over further charges after convicting them on several counts.

Lancashire Evening Post

Police close in on race hate duo

Whittle (left) and Sheppard; runaway racists

Police in Hull say they are close to winning an extradition battle to bring two men back from America wanted for distributing racist material.

Simon Sheppard and Stephen Whittle fled the country last summer after been found guilty of numerous race-hate offences. The trial at Leeds Crown Court came after Sheppard's flat in the Avenues area of the city was raided in 2005. But now, as a judge is set to sentence them in their absence on Monday, Special Branch officers believe they are closer than ever to getting the pair back into the country to face justice.

Adil Kahn, head of diversity and community cohesion for Humberside Police, said: "I think it is a question of when not if for their return to the UK. This has been a lengthy operation, but will on Monday, if the judge decides to sentence them in their absence, be closer to conclusion. The US authorities have been great, but we have had to go through the due process. Sheppard and Whittle will be here to face justice for their victims and for the hard work of all the officers involved in this case."

Sheppard, 51, was found guilty of 16 race hate crimes, 11 in July 2008 and five in January 09. Whittle, 41, was found guilty of five race hate crimes in July 2008.

Sheppard, who boasts on his website about being banned from every library in Hull, was convicted for a series of charges relating to publishing racially inflammatory material, distributing racially inflammatory material or possessing racially inflammatory material with a view to distribution under the Public Order Act 1986. He had been responsible for a website containing anti-semetic views. He also published and distributed a leaflet likening notorious Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz to a holiday resort.

The investigation began when a complaint about a leaflet called Tales Of The Holohoax was reported to police in 2004 after being pushed through the door of a Blackpool synagogue. It was traced back to a post office box in Hull registered to Sheppard. A lengthy police operation took place, with several forces across the country working together.

The pair, who have began calling themselves the Heretical Two, after the racist website Sheppard presided over, disappeared to Ireland, then flew to Los Angeles International Airport and surrendered to officials claiming political asylum. They are currently being held under the Department of Homeland Security at Santa Ana Jail.

On Tuesday a court hearing took place in the US with Sheppard and Whittle addressing the judge. Her Honour Judge Rose Peters reserved judgement which will be handed down in writing.

This is Hull and East Riding

Men convicted of race hate crimes

Sheppard and Whittle (O'Farrell)

Two men have been convicted of publishing "obnoxious and abhorrent" racist material

Simon Sheppard, 51, of Brook Street, Selby, and Stephen Whittle, 41, of Avenham Lane, Preston, have been found guilty of a number of offences. A trial at Leeds Crown Court heard they printed leaflets and controlled websites featuring racist material. The pair, who are currently in the hands of US immigration authorities, will be sentenced in March.

Sheppard and Whittle were originally convicted of race-hate offences at a trial in July last year. At an earlier hearing, Sheppard was found guilty of 11 offences and Whittle was found guilty of five offences.

The jury was unable to agree a verdict on a further seven charges against Sheppard and it was decided he would face a retrial on six of these charges. The retrial began on 8 December and concluded on Thursday. It was held in the absence of Sheppard as he and Whittle fled to America before the jury returned verdicts in the first trial.

The court heard the investigation into Sheppard began when a complaint about a leaflet called "Tales of the Holohoax" was reported to the police in 2004 after it was pushed through the door of a Synagogue in Blackpool. It was traced back to a post office box in Hull registered to Sheppard.

Reviewing lawyer Mari Reid, of the CPS's Counter Terrorism Division, said: "People are entitled to hold racist and extreme opinions which others may find unpleasant and obnoxious. What they are not entitled to do is to publish or distribute those opinions to the public in a threatening, abusive or insulting manner either intending to stir up racial hatred or in circumstances where it is likely racial hatred will be stirred up.

"The vast majority of the material in this case concerned Jewish people, but there was also material relating to black, Asian and non-white people generally, all described in derogatory terms using offensive language. As well as printed leaflets, there was evidence of Simon Sheppard controlling websites which featured racist material, some of it written by Whittle, under the pen name of Luke O'Farrell."

The pair were charged with publishing racially inflammatory material, distributing racially inflammatory material and possessing racially inflammatory material with a view to distribution.

Mrs Reid said: "Both juries saw some thoroughly unpleasant material which contained views which most people would find obnoxious and abhorrent."

BBC

Race hate case pair appeal

Two men who fled to the United States after being found guilty of publishing race-hate articles on the Internet have launched appeals against their convictions.

Simon Sheppard, of Brook Street in Selby, and Stephen Whittle skipped bail and headed across the Atlantic in July after a jury at Leeds Crown Court convicted them of a series of race-related offences. The pair claimed political asylum, and have been held in a California prison for two months while US officials set a date for their immigration hearing.

Leeds Crown Court has since received papers from the pair's legal teams, applying for leave to appeal against their convictions.

Barrister Adrian Davies, who represented Sheppard during the trial, said the case would probably be heard at London's Court of Appeal if the pair are allowed to challenge the jury's verdicts.

Sheppard, 51, and Whittle, 42, were given bail by a judge on July 11, despite the jury having already returned guilty verdicts on some of the charges. They were due to return to court three days later while jurors deliberated over further charges, but failed to show up. It's believed the pair travelled from the UK to Ireland by ferry before taking a direct flight to Los Angeles. The pair claimed political asylum and were detained at Los Angeles Airport by the US Immigration Naturalisation Service.

Their case has been followed by extremist websites, and supporters have begun sending donations.

Sheppard was found guilty of 11 counts of publishing racially inflammatory written material. He's due to return to Leeds Crown Court on December 8. Whittle, of Avenham Lane in Preston, was convicted of five counts of publishing racially inflammatory written material.

Selby Times

Race-hate pair flee to US for political asylum

Two men convicted of publishing race-hate articles on the internet have skipped bail and fled to the United States to claim political asylum, the Yorkshire Post can reveal.

Simon Sheppard and Stephen Whittle were given bail by a judge at Leeds Crown Court on Friday, despite having been found guilty of a series of race-related offences. The pair were due to return to court on Monday while a jury continued deliberating over further charges, but they failed to show up.

Last night Sheppard, 51, and Whittle, 41, were being held by immigration officials at Los Angeles Airport – outside the jurisdiction of the British court system.

It is believed that the pair travelled from the UK to Ireland by ferry before taking a direct flight to Los Angeles. They are likely to have their case considered at an immigration hearing in the US before UK authorities can secure their return.

A spokeswoman for Humberside Police, which led the race-hate investigation, said: "We are led to believe that they are indeed being detained by the Immigration and Naturalisation Service (INS) at Los Angeles Airport. They are in custody and we are in liaison with the INS to establish that this pair are our two men and, if so, what is likely to happen to them."

Sheppard, of Brook Street, Selby, was found guilty after a seven-week trial of 11 counts of publishing racially inflammatory written material. The jury gave unanimous verdicts on nine of the charges on Friday, and returned with two majority verdicts on Monday while Sheppard was absent.

Whittle, of Avenham Lane, Preston, was convicted of five counts of publishing racially inflammatory written material. Four of the verdicts were reached unanimously on Friday, and the fifth was returned by a majority of 10 to one on Monday after Whittle had absconded.

The jury were unable to reach verdicts on seven further race-related charges which Sheppard faced. A spokeswoman for the Crown Prosecution Service said it had yet to decide whether Sheppard should be retried on the seven outstanding charges. It has 14 days to reach a decision.

The case is due to be considered further at a hearing at Leeds Crown Court on July 28.

Yorkshire Post

Hunt for race hate writer on run

Sheppard (drip on left) and Whittle (hairy bugger on right)

Police have launched a manhunt after a writer who penned race hate articles for a controversial website failed to turn up at court.

Stephen Whittle penned five offensive articles which appeared on the Internet, a jury was told. The unemployed 41-year-old, of Avenham Lane, Avenham, Preston, was found guilty of publishing racially inflammatory written material, and four similar charges.

A seven-week trial at Leeds Crown Court heard that Whittle wrote five offensive articles which later appeared on a website run by co-defendant Simon Sheppard, 51, of Brook Street in Selby, North Yorkshire. Prosecutor Jonathan Sandiford told the jury that Whittle used the pseudonym Luke O'Farrell for the articles, which were posted on the web between March 2005 and January 2006.

The articles were either threatening, insulting or abusive and may have been intended to stir up racial hatred, Mr Sandiford added. Previously, Mr Sandiford told the jury that Sheppard and Whittle held what they may regard as fairly extreme views about people who were Jewish, black, Asian, Chinese, Indian and, in reality, anyone who was not white.

He said: "People in this country are entitled to be racist and they are entitled to hold unpleasant points of view, but what they aren't entitled to do is publish or distribute written material which is insulting, threatening or abusive and is intended to stir up racial hatred or is likely to do so."

The court heard Sheppard's website attracts 4,000 visitors a day. Other articles on the same site included one written during the 1960s by the leader of the American Nazi Party, George Lincoln Rockwell.

Giving evidence, Whittle said the articles were not a "call to arms" but an attempt to "satirise political correctness, to turn it on its head". Sheppard was found guilty of 11 counts of publishing racially inflammatory written material.

He may face a retrial, however, as the jury were unable to reach verdicts on seven further charges. Whittle and Sheppard are next due to appear at Leeds Crown Court on July 28.

Lancashire Evening Post

Holocaust denier convicted of trying to incite race hate online

A man who claims accounts of the Holocaust are "exaggerated" and describes Anne Frank's diary as "evil" has been convicted of putting articles on the internet that could stir up race hate.

A jury at Leeds Crown Court yesterday found Simon Sheppard, 51, guilty of nine counts of publishing racially inflammatory written material on his website between March 2005 and April 2006. The court heard Sheppard's website attracts 4,000 visitors a day.

Four of the articles were penned by Stephen Whittle [who writes as Luke O'Farrell], 41, who was yesterday convicted of four counts of publishing racially inflammatory written material. The others included a cartoon by the American cartoonist Robert Crumb and an article written during the 1960s by the leader of the American Nazi Party, George Lincoln Rockwell.

Prosecutor Jonathan Sandiford told the jury that Sheppard and Whittle were a pair of racists who held what they may regard as fairly extreme views about people who were Jewish, black, Asian, Chinese, Indian and, in reality, anyone who wasn't white.

"People in this country are entitled to be racist and they are entitled to hold unpleasant points of view, but what they aren't entitled to do is publish or distribute written material which is insulting, threatening or abusive and is intended to stir up racial hatred or is likely to do so."

Both Sheppard, of Brook Street, Selby, and Whittle, of Avenham Lane, Preston, told the jury that the articles were an attempt to "satirise" political correctness.

Sheppard said: "You can't blame a Jewish person for being a Jew, you can't blame a black person for being black, and you can't blame a Yorkshireman for being forthright, which I am."

The hearing will enter its seventh week on Monday, when the jury of six men and five women return to court to resume deliberations on further charges.

Sheppard is awaiting verdicts on nine charges relating to the publication, possession and distribution of written material which could stir up racial hatred. Whittle faces a charge of publishing racially inflammatory material.

Yorkshire Post