Racist Chippenham thug is jailed

National Front thug Aiden Minnis, who launched an unprovoked racist attack on a man in the street, has been jailed for four years and three months.

Minnis, of Woodlands Road, Chippenham, who used to be a member of the far right party, hit his mixed race victim over the back of the head with a port bottle in the late night attack. The 22-year-old, who has a history of violence, shouted racist insults at his victim and before the assault in Chippenham.

A judge at Swindon Crown Court today jailed Minnis for the attack and a number of other violent incidents including a robbery and attempted robbery.

Claire Marlow, prosecuting, told the court how the race attack on Darren McMillan took place on Sunday September 2 last year. She said he had been out on the Saturday night in Chippenham and Bath and was walking home along Bristol Road towards Hungerdown Lane at about 3am. He noticed two men walking towards him and heard them starting to shout the racial abuse.

“At first he was not bothered but as they got closer he took out his mobile phone and started to call the police,” she said.

“He recalls being on the phone to the operator when he heard one say ‘Yeah, you get help’ and use more racial abuse. As he went along he felt himself being stuck to the back of the head by something hard. He fell to the ground still connected to the operator.”

He came round to find he was covered in blood from a cut to the back of his head which required nine staples.

Miss Marlow said the man who was with Minnis called the police to tell them how he had seen him strike the victim with a bottle of port he had been drinking from.

The court heard that two months later Minnis robbed one man of his wallet and contents and tried to rob another, punching both to the face, and in January this year he and an accomplice assaulted a homeless man.

Minnis pleaded guilty to robbery, attempted robbery, common assault and unlawful wounding.

The court heard he had a long history of offending, most of which involved violence, including a racially aggravated public order offence. Jason Taylor, defending, said his client was still a young man and was striving to change his ways.

“He was a member of the National Front, a class A drug addict and an alcoholic by the age of 20,” he told the court.

“Since then he no longer associates with the National Front, no longer has an addiction the class A drugs. The last addiction he had to alcohol he says even now is entirely under control and was before he was remanded into custody on the last occasion.”

At the time of the offending he said his client was living on friends’ sofas after being thrown out of home. He said he was now in a stable relationship with a woman who was pregnant with his child and due to give birth in May.

Jailing him Judge Douglas Field said “Aiden Minnis, you are 22 years of age and you have a long record of serious offending. Much of your offending has to do with violence and now I have to deal with you for three groups of offences all of which have a violent element to them.”

Chippenham Gazette and Herald

Extremists target youth

Extreme right wing political group the National Front has set up a youth group in Chippenham, despite huge opposition from schools and parents.

The group, whose conditions of membership include no homosexuals, must be of white parentage and partners must also be white', has already held two meetings in the town.

At the latest meeting on February 16, more than 25 youngsters from the age of 14 attended and awards were handed out to individuals for their work for the organisation.

When the Gazette broke the news of the National Front's arrival in Chippenham in September, schools were outraged that the party intended to hand out leaflets at the gates to attract young members.

Gerard MacMahon, head teacher at Sheldon School, said: "I am confident that our pupils would not have any involvement with an organisation which is involved in the stirring or spreading of hate.

"At the school we would have nothing to do with an organisation like that - Sheldon will have nothing to do with them.

"As an immigrant myself, I am not at all interested in what they have got to say."

News that the party has managed to establish a youth group in town has come as a shock to many. Mum-of-two teenagers Emma Fitzwarren, 44, of Eastern Avenue said: "I think it is totally disgusting they have infiltrated the town - why have people even given them the time of day?

"I have warned my children about getting involved with the racists and I know they would never be sucked into it.

"I am now just concerned about other children. They might feel pressured to join and that could lead to horrendous consequences. I plead with all parents to make sure their children are not involved."

A spokesman for Wiltshire College said: "We are an inclusive organisation and we would be very concerned about any association with groups who do not share our values, particularly those who would seek to discriminate against groups or individuals."

Steve Reynolds, executive member of the National Front, said: "Many issues arose, one on their safety and their fears of being attacked by others. Some expressed concern for their elderly relatives, claiming they had been failed by the system and others in the community. We also touched on the closure of Lacock Post Office."

Gazette and Herald

BNP's Simpkins to fight Parliamentary seat

The British National Party has announced its intention to put forward a Parliamentary candidate in Wiltshire - and has launched a bitter, personal attack on a black politician.

BNP Corsham town councillor Michael Simpkins has issued a public statement in which he lashes out at Wilfred Emmanuel-Jones, the Conservative prospective Parliamentary candidate for the new Chippenham constituency.

Cllr Simpkins, who was appointed to the town council last month after nobody stood against him, also announced that he has been shortlisted by his party to contest the Chippenham seat, which covers Corsham. He is angry that Mr Emmanuel-Jones, who is popularly known as the Black Farmer and has starred in his own reality television series, joined more than 300 people who earlier this month gathered outside Corsham Town Hall to protest against the BNP.

Speaking at that protest, Mr Emmanuel-Jones said: "This isn't a racist town and they are all shocked that this guy got in by default. Everything that the BNP stands for is really not in synch with modern society and it's dangerous."

In a statement this week Cllr Simpkins, who works as a local taxi driver, criticised Conservative policies in general. Then he added: "I also find it rather hypocritical that the Tories' Wilfred Emmanuel- Jones should take it upon himself to come to my town in support of those who infer that I am a racist, a town in which he does not even live."

Mr Emmanuel-Jones was not available for comment, but a Conservative Party spokesman said: "It is a shame the BNP has resorted once more to delivering these type of base-level, inaccurate and unfounded remarks instead of concentrating on the key issues affecting residents, such as the crisis affecting the NHS and the rise in violent crime."

The BNP has repeatedly denied being a racist party. At the recent protest Cllr Simpkins said that "you couldn't find a more non- racist person than me".

The Bath Chronicle