Anti-fascists condemn Cottage sentence as too lenient

Anti-fascists condemn leniency of sentence as ex-BNP candidate gets two and a half years for stockpiling chemicals

Robert Cottage, three times BNP candidate was jailed yesterday for having stockpiled chemicals, bomb making equipment and rocket launcher. Cottage is the latest BNP member to have been found guilty of criminal charges. In the last year, another five BNP members and councillors have been found guilty of offences ranging from racially aggravated assault to attempted firebombing.

Cottage is likely to be released within six months, having already spent a year on remand. The chemicals found in his house were reported by the police to be the largest stockpile of such material used to make explosives in Britain. He was found not guilty of much more serious charges of conspiracy to cause explosions.

Denis Fernando, Joint Secretary of Unite Against Fascism said: 'Cottage's conviction is the latest example of the fascist BNP's criminality: behind the façade of respectability that the BNP craves lies an organisation that is full of convicted criminals. The BNP is not a legitimate party when its members and candidates engage in such violent activity and should not be treated as an ordinary political party or legitimised. They represent a criminal conspiracy that opposes democracy and has a history of violence. This sentence does not reflect the seriousness of the offence committed.'

Earlier this year, David Enderby British National Party (BNP) councillor for Winyates ward, Redditch, was found guilty of three counts of assault. In June last year, Kevin Hughes, Enderby's agent in the elections was sentenced to three months in prison for racially aggravated common assault.

BNP Parliamentary candidate for Hull Brian Wainwright was found guilty after a campaign of hate mail against the local mosque, a Muslim councillor and a local anti-fascist activist. A letter in which he claimed, "Muslim blood will be spilt" included 'SS' scull and cross bones imagery.

BNP activist in Swindon Mark Bulman (who has used the pseudonym Bullock) was sentenced to five years after attempting to firebomb a local mosque using a BNP leaflet as a fuse. He also daubed swastikas and racist graffiti on local shops and businesses that he believed to be 'ethnic'.

In June 2006 BNP councillor Brian Turner was found guilty of a racially aggravated public order offence. He escaped a jail sentence and was instead ordered to carry out 300 hours of unpaid work in the community. Turner has previous convictions of common assault and police assault after he was convicted of beating up his wife Melanie Turner.

Unite Against Fascism is a broad-based national campaign aimed at stopping the BNP, which brings together Black, Jewish, Muslim communities and other faith representatives, Lesbian and Gay activists, trade unionists and MPs into an alliance with all those who are threatened by and oppose fascism.

UAF