Dozy nazi in bomb blunder

A neo-nazi thug phoned socialist activists threatening to bomb them — but forgot to hide his own number.

John Montgomery, 20, was yesterday sentenced to 250 hours’ community service after he phoned Greenock Scottish Socialist Party activists and threatened to put a bomb through their window then claimed he had a Browning pistol and was waiting for them outside.

But Montgomery, pictured, a member of white supremacist group the Nationalist Alliance, failed to hide his phone number before making the calls and was traced almost immediately by the victim. Police questioning Montgomery at his house found him armed with nothing more than a batch of posters belonging to nazi terror group, Combat 18.

Montgomery, of Hillside Road, Greenock, had the posters tacked up on his walls, alongside stickers and leaflets containing further racist and homophobic slogans, including demands for ‘white free speech’ and speaking of securing ‘a future for our white children’. He was also fined £200 after he was found with other youths in a Greenock bin shed ‘in various states of undress’ and swore at police telling him to get out on 22 May at Charles Place.

Delivering sentence, Sheriff Colin McClory said: “It’s pretty outrageous people engaging in political activity have to put up with that level of abuse. What I’m not intending to do is create a martyr which is the perception of some people if you send them to prison. It seems to me you’ve got a lot of growing up to do. The most serious charge is the threats uttered to other people engaging in political activity and you must never get involved in conduct like this again. The other matter is another incident of you showing off, displaying your lack of maturity.”

Of the posters, he said: “I hope all this material is destroyed.”

The court heard how Montgomery, who has previous convictions for possession of racially inflammatory material, found the complainer’s number listed in the SSP’s newspaper. He avoided trial after admitting phoning the victim and his wife on various occasions between 15 and 19 April last year and threatening them with violence.

Montgomery also pleaded guilty to having offensive material intended to stir up racial hatred at his home on 21 April, and to possessing the material with intent to distribute it on 28 July at Crown Street.

Solicitor Bob Mitchell, defending, said: “The BNP set up a group in this area. They distributed a number of leaflets. He found himself influenced by the ideas in them. He came to accept them and become involved in the organisation. At the time of the offences he was with other young men. Drink had been taken. He wasn’t thinking particularly clearly. Since these matters he tells me his involvement in the BNP has come to an end.”

Greenock Telegraph