Gina's nazi pals

Exclusive: Queen of the Shankill parties in an English pub in her skin tight dress with sieg heil saluting scum

GINA Adair has got her life back on track... but she's hanging out with a right 'Nazi' bunch!

The tanned and toned ex-wife of UFF terror boss Johnny 'Mad Dog' Adair is still living in exile in Greater Manchester after fleeing Ulster in 2003. And we can reveal the mother-of-four has hooked up with a bunch of far-right scum - most of whom have criminal convictions connected to fascist group Combat-18.

Giving Nazi salutes the group are connected now to the notorious English Defence League who are an anti-Muslim group. The 44-year-old had a nightmare time between being forced to live in Bolton, going through a cancer scare as well as a marriage break-up and a son in jail for crack cocaine dealing. But our exclusive pictures show the one time 'Queen' of the Shankill has put her troubles behind her.

Sunbeds

Sporting a new feminine hair-style, and looking like someone dropped her in a vat of sun beds, Gina poses in a skin-tight animal print mini-dress, a marked difference from the last picture of Gina in a miniskirt - that time she wore army fatigues, a balaclava and was armed with a machine gun.

Drinking glasses of wine with a big smile on her face it's obvious thoughts of the love of her life Johnny are long forgotten. But then why wouldn't she be happy?

However Gina, known as 'hard-as-nails' on the Shankill, always loved the 'bad boys' and when you see the motley crew she's hanging out with these days that's clearly one part of her life that hasn't changed.

These snaps were taken earlier this month while she partied long into the night with the thugs in a pub in Oldham. They include convicted thug Kevin Gough who was involved in the BNP and Combat-18. In 1997 Gough and Andrew Roughley (also pictured), were imprisoned for four months for distributing anti-semitic and anti-immigrant material likely to incite racial hatred. Gough was also given a three year banning order for football hooliganism in 2001 after he was instrumental in starting trouble at a match between his team Oldham Athletic and Stoke City. The trouble was the pre-cursor for the infamous Oldham riots which saw nights of violence between whites and Asians. And in 1999 Gough was part of an 80-strong gang of Combat-18 thugs who attempted to attack the Bloody Sunday demonstration in London.

Gough is now a singer in a second rate punk band “Pressure 28”. The 28 refers to the second and eighth letters of the alphabet B & H, the abbreviations used for Blood and Honour, the neo-Nazi music promotion network and political group with links to Combat 18.

Then we have another Oldham thug Darren Hoy who was convicted of assaulting an Asian restaurant worker in 1996.Hoy marched down the Lees High Street in Oldham shouting "Sieg Heil" while giving Nazi salutes. He then clubbed his victim with a long-handled broom - the man suffered bruising and swelling to his head and nose. The fascist got 150 hours community service and was ordered to pay £550 compensation. Hoy was deported from Belgium during Euro 2000 after he was involved in violence between England and Germany fans and he was sent to jail for three months in 2002 for racially abusing people as they left an anti-fascist rally.

Hoy was jailed for 9 months for Affray in 2003 for his part in instigating the 2001 Oldham Riots.

Another Combat-18 thug partying with Gina is Stephen Walsh who also did nine months in jail for affray during the 2001 Oldham riots.
And finally Gina is also seen with Portadown loyalist Ivan Ewart who has a large Billy Wright tattoo on his arm.

Said one loyalist source: "I'm not surprised to hear Gina has got pally with a bunch of far right nutters.

"Her ex Johnny was very closely linked with far right groups when he was younger. He was a Shankill skinhead and loved the National Front and Combat-18. "She's basically fallen in with a load of like minded people."
Gina fled Ulster with dozens of other Shankill loyalists in February 2003 in the aftermath of the murder of UDA brigadier John 'Grugg' Gregg.

Turbulent

The mother-of-four was literally chased out of the Shankill by a UDA mob. When she fled all she had time to do was grab a plastic bag filled with over £70,000 of cash which was confiscated by Scottish police when she arrived in Stranraer.

Gina met her long-term lover Johnny Adair when she was just a teenager and they 'enjoyed' a turbulent relationship until they split seven years ago. They continually broke off their relationship, taking other lovers but were always drawn back together. During one split up in the early '90s, Gina began drinking heavily and taking drugs. She got into debt and owed money to UDA men, who took her income support book to ensure she paid them back.

*Based on an article first printed in The Sunday World

You can read more info on Pressure 28 and their links to the Far Right on the Street Voice UK blog

Did you hear the one about a slow news day?

Busy day for me today. I've been working in Belfast on quite a good story that should annoy a few fascists when it comes out. One naughty type even suggested that I would be punished for it. (Word is that he seems to thrive on that kind of activity).

Being in Belfast, I took the opportunity to visit and talk to some of the businessmen and women who fell hook line and sinker for the BNP's promise to pay their bills on time. In most cases, they just did not pay at all. The BNP has left a real trail of destruction over there.

Traditionally we have no truck at all with people 'who lie down with dogs' but Northern Ireland has a low wage economy and a sense of desperation prevails in the case of small businesses trying to make just enough money to get by. And the BNP did not just rip off one community, they spread their tentacles right across the communities. On that point I was a little bemused...

That was until I picked up a story in today's Irish herald. I don't know the writer, Claire Murphy, but she got a story between her teeth and most certainly ran with it, no questions asked!

"BNP plans Irish wing to oppose immigration" wrote Claire. Initially I thought it would be in line with the BNP's traditional plans for the Irish. I assumed that Nick Griffin was sending his lardy security team to the Emerald Isle to build some kind of wall to stop the Irish visiting Britain. But no, the BNP is apparently "agitating" (whatever that means), for the "establishment of an 'Irish National Party' and believes there are already like-minded groups in existence." So, why would the British "agitate" for one then?

Claire also writes that the BNP "grew in popularity in the last UK election". Maybe it's an old story. I believe the correct word or term to describe their last election results is actually "decimated". A quick look on google would show that. Even just a little knowledge of the subject too, actually.

Not only that, Nick Griffin is described as the leader of the "anti-immigration lobby." Apparently not an Imperialist apologist, then?

Still, at the end of the day it was pretty run of the mill reporting, actually. One does not expect an Irish journalist to remind its readership, warn even, that the BNP is more than "traditionally" an anti-Irish party. Perhaps this explains why Patrick Harrington refuses to join them? He launched his own "party" on St Patrick's Day long ago and has stuck with that tiny grouping and the allegations that he is some kind of pro-IRA supporter ever since. (Perhaps that's the punishment he thinks I deserve?)

I shouldn't be the one to give any Irish journalist a history lesson. There are many excellent Irish journalists who will no doubt over the next few days pour scorn on Claire's story. Least of all, why would Ireland want an Irish model of a British party? Wasn't there some kind of dispute that went on and on for a few hundred years based on a similar premise?

Claire fails to mention or perhaps even remind her readers of a little bit of shameful English history. My father, who is Irish, never let me forget it. The BNP more than a little harks back to and longs for an era when one could quite happily refuse board and lodging to "Blacks, Irish and Dogs". if one so desired, one could even put it up in the front window of one's house or hotel.

But the story goes a lot deeper and is far more sinister than that. During the most dark and horrifying days of conflict in Northern Ireland, the BNP's security wing, Combat 18 (C18), peddled drugs and provided guns and bullets for the Loyalist murder squads in Northern Ireland (when they were not also grassing up their Loyalist friends, that is).

"Bog trotters" I seem to recall was one way that the BNP referred to the Irish. They even ran trips to Northern Ireland to help stoke up the fires of sectarianism.

Only a couple of years ago there was almost a revolt by the revolting members of Liverpool BNP when the Irish tricolour appeared on the banner of the local party. "The Irish tricolour is a terrorist flag" protested one senior member.

Historically, the last time a group in Ireland rose up against that country's progressive and anti-Imperialist traditions, they ended up on a half empty boat heading to fight for the Fascists under Franco. When they got there, most of them ended up getting shot by fellow fascists!

These days there will obviously be people in the BNP of Irish descent and heritage. The BNP's founder John Tyndall was even of Irish descent. This says more about the great things of this country than it does about the BNP's policies.

What Claire Murphy could really have done with mentioning is that under the BNP's policies, there would be no Ireland at all. It would be just another part of Britain under British control.

Still, I guess having almost bled the north of the Island dry, like the parasite that the BNP is, it has to try to bleed another part of the body dry just to survive.

Thanks to HOPE not Hate

We won’t hold our breath

Paul Prodromou aka Pitt

It seems the EDL may owe us a few words of gratitude, but we won’t hold our breath

Last week we pointed out that the Essex EDL organiser Paul Prodromou aka Paul Pitt had found a new bosom buddy, well known neo Nazi Eddie Stamton.Eddie has become a regular at EDL events and is particularly close to Prodromou and other leading members of the EDL.

Stamton, who has also gone by the names of Stampton and Stanton during a long and positively criminal lifetime, has been involved with far-right politics since he was a teenager. As well as the hard line, Hitler worshipping British Movement and Combat 18, Eddie was also once the National Activities Organiser and London organiser with the miniscule British People’s Party (BPP) which turned out a plethora of paedophiles and wannabe terrorists when they were not updating their “Redwatch” website.

Well thanks to our article it seems the EDL have actually taken some notice and declared Stamton persona non grata.

In a long and tedious posting on the EDL website they explained “On September 11th, a group of EDL supporters went to pay their respects outside the US Embassy, and demonstrate against the presence of a group of Muslim extremists who, within earshot of victims’ families, were mocking those who died in the attack on the World Trade Center. Unfortunately, we have learned that amongst the group was an individual named Eddie Stamton, a relatively well-known neo-Nazi, tied to organisations which, amongst other things, have called for homosexuality to made illegal and have made a point of denying the Holocaust.”

They continued “We do not usually like to name individuals,but given Stamton’s known association with the Redwatch website, we believe that this time it is justified. Eddie Stamton, and any other neo-Nazis, are not welcome at EDL demonstrations, and will be ejected whenever they are identified.”

The EDL have a track record however of not carrying out their threats when it comes to the banning of their own members. The organisation is overflowing with a menagerie of neo Nazis, pub racists and rank and file bigots so it is doubtful that this sentiment which is little more than window dressing will stick.

There are already rumblings within Essex EDL that Stamton is a trusted and loyal friend and that he will be allowed to attend EDL events despite what the EDL leadership say.

The only way is Essex apparently.

Hope not hate

How loyalists got out of step with fascism

Britain's far right groups welcomed links with Protestant paramilitaries, but Henry McDonald delves into a new book which reveals that this strange alliance eventually ended in betrayal.

Recalling his days selling race-hate literature in London's East End, Matthew Collins says: "We took the traditional Brick Lane Sunday drink with the BNP that day, watching strippers and eating a selection of mussels and whelks off the bar."

All they would have needed was a Cockney-style sing-song of Horst Wessel Lied and Deutschland Uber Alles around the old Joanna and that would have topped off a perfect National Socialist Sabbath for Matthew and his comrades.

The above memory isn't the only unintentionally hilarious anecdote contained within Collins' new book, Hate - a recollection of his time both in the National Front and the British National Party.

His evolution from the son of an Irish Catholic father to a fascist street fighter mouthing mantras of 'No Surrender to the IRA' is peppered with bizarre and often achingly funny passages, which in turn highlight how absurd, perverse and out of touch with reality most of his far right chums actually were back in the 1990s.

There are, however, more sinister segments of the book and they include his relationship with Ulster loyalists who had latched onto the NF and other neo-Nazi organisations in Britain.

Of these the most prominent is Eddie Whicker, a UDA member from Belfast who became somewhat of a personality on the London far right scene at the time Collins was an active fascist. Whicker was one of the most militant of the extreme right street thugs taking on leftists, some of whom marched in pro-IRA rallies in the UK capital and other British cities.

Reading Collins' fascinating memoir raised questions as to how useful, if at all, the various parties and groups on the far right were to the Ulster loyalist cause. The answer to that question, taking a long view of history, would be hardly at all. In fact, Hate confirms the analysis put forward by the likes of the late David Ervine that the far right's embrace of the loyalist cause was nothing short of embarrassing.

There can be no doubting the connections established from the early 1970s onwards between the NF, BNP and the more extreme Combat 18 to the two main loyalist paramilitary organisations. On a political and, dare one say social level, the disparate British far right were the only supporters of the Ulster loyalist cause in Britain.

Apart from their traditional allies in Scotland, particularly within the Orange Order and the Rangers football team's support base, loyalism's allies were few and far between.

While loyalists across the sea could feel very much at home in parts of Scotland's central belt or the Ayrshire coast, your average working class Ulster Protestant would feel a greater sense of isolation in English cities, particularly the multi-cultural/racial conurbations.

As Collins attests to in his book, the NF and other rival organisations at least provided a home for an Ulster loyalist away from home but still in touch with the cause.

Logistically, the efficacy of British neo-Nazi help for loyalist armed groups has been wildly exaggerated. There were a number of gun running plots such as the one involving Frank Portinari, an English UDA member of Italian Catholic extract in direct touch with 'C' Company and a friend of the UDA killer John White.

The important thing to remember about Portinari's gun smuggling operation was that it was soon busted by the security forces.

In reality the people who gained the most out of British fascism's embrace of loyalism were MI5 and Special Branch.

Charlie Sergeant, for instance, crops up several times in Collins' book as a prominent Combat 18 thug and strong supporter of Ulster loyalists. Yet after Sergeant was tried and convicted of stabbing a rival neo-Nazi to death it transpired he was also a police informant whose work included spying on any potential loyalist arms smuggling operations in the south-east of England.

The Ulster Volunteer Force did, of course, meet with the extreme neo-Nazi Belgian VMO in the early 1980s. The Flemish fascists were fascinated with the home-made engineering skills of Ulster loyalists who were manufacturing their own sub-machine guns. In return, the VMO promised to hand over plastic explosives, as long as the UVF attacked a Jewish target in Belfast. This suggestion convinced the UVF envoys sent to meet the pro-Hitler terrorists that they were dealing with nutcases. The UVF search for explosives switched to commercial, ideologically neutral arms dealers.

On a propaganda level the activities of a handful of loyalists in England like Whicker was undoubtedly damaging. It only projected and solidified the notion that the average loyalist was as much a bone-headed, shaven, beery-breathed bigot as their neo-Nazi buddies smashing up Brick Lane. The ceasefire, of course, and the emergence of Ervine, Billy Hutchinson and other articulate loyalist politicians, changed all that.

Observers of the far right will point to the career of Johnny Adair, who started his politico-paramilitary career in the NF. In retirement on the west coast of Scotland, Adair has admitted he always had his doubts about the English neo-Nazis, suspecting many of them of being "touts" or just terror-tourists not really serious about waging war on the republican movement.

It is worth remembering that throughout his life Adair maintained an enduring love for one English band who emerged out of the post-Punk era. The group was comprised of two brothers from a left-wing background who sang about racism in America's Deep South and who wrote socialist protest songs against Thatcherism and mass unemployment.

To this day Adair loves UB40. That's how serious the British neo-Nazis' favourite Ulster poster boy was about their message of racial purity and ethnic hatred.

Belfast Telegraph

Some strange returns and culinary confusion...

I’m sure by now everyone is aware of the disgraceful scenes played out by the EDL and their equally vile half cousins MAC (Muslims against crusades) while people were remembering the near 3,000 victims of the September 11th terror attacks on its 10th anniversary on Sunday.

In an equal display of disrespect a group of beer fuelled EDL supporters attempted to mount a counter protest, chanting racist songs as they normally do.

In this photo from the day we can see Paul Prodromou aka Paul Pitt the Essex organiser laughing at the whole shameful affair. But who is the bald chap admiringly looking into Paul’s eyes?

Why it’s none other than hard-line neo-Nazi Eddie Stamton.

Stamton, who has also gone by the name of Stampton and Stanton during a long and positively criminal lifetime, has been involved with far right politics since he was a teenager. As well as the hard-line, Hitler worshipping British Movement and the now geriatric Combat 18, Eddie was also once the National Activities Organiser and London organiser with the miniscule British Peoples Party (BPP) which turned out a plethora of paedophiles and wanna be terrorists when they were not updating their pathetic “Redwatch” website.

Now that Eddie has surfaced with the apparent non-Nazi, Israel loving EDL I guess we’ll no longer be seeing him down Brick Lane in east London with a swastika flag like he did in the good old days?

The EDL's other serious 'non-Nazi', their leader and former BNP member Stephen Yaxley has apparently returned to Luton after his bout at Her Majesty's pleasure and a dubious hunger strike.

According to the local paper in Luton, Lennon headed straight for Nandos, the world famous up market chicken eatery. Lennon was reportedly very hungry having allegedly refused all food while being kept on remand for alleged bail breeches.

One of the reasons he gave for his supposed hunger strike was that some prisons serve Halal meat and Lennon, rather than allow himself a vegetarian diet decided to make a martyr of himself.

Well I am pleased to report that Nandos in Luton sells Halal chicken. And Halal chicken only: http://www.nandos.co.uk/restaurant/luton


Thanks to Nick Lowles at HOPE not Hate

Book Review: Hate by Matthew Collins

Hate is the captivating and witty autobiography of reformed fascist turned Searchlight mole Matthew Collins.

Collins was a full-time activist and administrator for the National Front for several years at the turn of the 1990s and his experience spans the disintegration of the NF and the rise of the British National Party. It is an engrossing chronicle of confrontation between the left and right and examines Collins’ relationship with prominent fascists including Ian Anderson, Richard Edmonds, Eddie Whicker, Tony Lecomber and Combat 18 leader Charlie Sargent.

The book – crude, brutal and savagely funny – charts Collins’ involvement with the National Front in his late teens through to his work as an informant with the anti-fascist magazine Searchlight. Collins was the principle source of Andy Bell’s World In Action documentary and was forced into hiding for 10 years in Australia before returning to the UK to work full-time as an anti-fascist campaigner.

Although Collins was never a fascist leader and his flirtation with the far right was relatively brief, he does provide a fascinating insight into the tactics and psychology of British Nazism. The right’s ability to mobilise coalitions of thugs – including violent fascists, barbaric football hooligans and brutish Loyalists – is truly chilling, but Collins also demonstrates the inherent contradictions and weakness of the movement.

The awkward alliance of various groups and factions is saturated with egotism and paranoia whilst deluded ideological warhorses – such as Anderson and Edmonds – rely on the muscle and numbers provided by football hooligans to further their political ends. Hooligan firms might echo the racist bile of the NF and the BNP, but they’re not interested in building a ‘movement’ or selling papers, they just want a ruck with some Reds. Collins’ terrifying description of a number of violent encounters with the left helps illustrate this implicit conflict.

Another highlight is the fascinating story of Mr X – a former Trotskyite turned Sun journalist who becomes increasingly cosy with leading British Nazis and violent Ulster Loyalists – which illustrates the incestuous relationships between the far right of the Conservative Party and the fascist movement. Until the emergence of some embarrassing photographs, Mr X plays an increasingly pivotal role in the National Front as he offers them access to the political establishment and writes for a number of NF publications.

Unlike similar accounts – such as Ray Hill’s The Other Face of Terror – there is no epiphany or eureka moment which converts Collins to fighting fascism. Rather it is a gradual disillusionment with the increasingly well-organised and escalating violence. This gradualism mirrors Collins’ first interaction with the National Front and his hesitant and wary engagement of Searchlight.

Although the primary focus is on the National Front, as a historical document charting the rise of the BNP – detailing its violent, Nazi and anti-parliamentary origins – the book is truly significant. Much of what Collins says is hardly revelatory, but it is an important resource to demonstrate the true colours of the BNP when many of its supporters – and even members – are ignorant of the reality.

Hate does not provide a blueprint for fighting fascism, but it does show how the far right attracts working-class people damaged by the system and encourages them to express their anger at other members of society. It shows how fascists exploit some of the most vulnerable people in society – young working-class men with limited prospects – and gives them a sense of belonging, worth and comradeship. The most important lesson of Collins’ book is that as long as the mainstream political establishment continues to restrict employment opportunities and housing prospects for the inner-city youth, the far right will continue to be a frightening menace. As a first-hand account of this menace – and for anyone concerned about the rise of the far right and the emergence of the EDL – this is a must read.

Click here to buy Hate from Hope Not Hate with all proceeds going to Searchlight or you can buy it from The Guardian Bookshop

Thanks to Eyes on Power

EDIT - I'm sorry that we cannot publish the various guesses that people have sent through regarding the ID of Mr X. Legally it's a bit dodgy, well a lot dodgy really.

English Defence League march through Tower Hamlets banned by Theresa May

English Defence League members listen to the group's founder Stephen Lennon

Home secretary agrees to police request for ban of march planned through one of UK's biggest Muslim communities

The home secretary has agreed to a police request to ban the far-right English Defence League from staging a march through one of the UK's biggest Muslim communities in east London. Theresa May said she would outlaw any marches in Tower Hamlets and four neighbouring boroughs – whether by the EDL or any other groups – for the next 30 days, having "balanced rights to protest against the need to ensure local communities and property are protected".

She added: "I know that the Metropolitan police are committed to using their powers to ensure communities and properties are protected."

Police sought the ban after the EDL – which has seen widespread public disorder at earlier rallies – planned to march on 3 September through Tower Hamlets, which has a significant Muslim community, many of Bangladeshi origin. In a statement the force said it made the request following information that prompted fears that the march could cause "serious public disorder, violence and damage". It added: "Tactically we believe this is the best option to prevent this."

Chief Superintendent Julia Pendry warned EDL supporters to stay away. "We have made this decision [to seek the ban] based on specific intelligence and information, and our message is clear: we do not want people coming into the areas to attend these events."

The march had been vehemently opposed by community leaders, among them the two local MPs and the borough's mayor, as well as a series of Muslim and Jewish groups. Fears that it could spark violence were exacerbated following this month's rioting in many parts of London.

The EDL emerged in Luton, another strongly Muslim area, in 2009. While it purports to oppose "Islamic extremism" the group insists it is not racist. However, its marches, aimed mainly at Muslim communities, have been seen as extremely provocative. A Guardian investigation into the EDL found repeated racism and threats of violence among supporters.

Nick Lowles, director of the anti-extremist campaign group Searchlight, called May's decision a victory for common sense. He said: "The EDL clearly intended to use the proposed march to bring violence and disorder to the streets of Tower Hamlets. Their plan has been foiled."

The veteran campaigner Peter Tatchell said that while he abhorred the EDL, he believed the blanket 30-day ban was a "complete overreaction" and would prove counter-productive. He said: "I'm not sure we can defeat anti-democratic groups like the EDL using anti-democratic methods like banning marches. A far better tactic would be mass counter protests and exposing the bigoted and violent views of the EDL."

Earlier this month May banned an EDL march through Telford, although the group was still able to congregate. Opponents urged the home secretary to follow suit in east London, particularly after links emerged between the EDL and the Norwegian mass killer Anders Behring Breivik.

The gunman repeatedly praised the group in his rambling manifesto and claimed he had hundreds of EDL supporters as Facebook friends.

The EDL insisted any admiration was one way and it did not condone his views.

The group has struggled for legitimacy, even amid evidence it has picked up supporters as the better established far-right British National Party has been beset by internal divisions. According to Searchlight, the EDL has active support from people involved in earlier far-right groups, including the even more extreme Combat 18 and National Front.

In February it attracted some unexpected support from the Daily Star, which tacitly endorsed its views and said 98% of its readers supported them. But this lasted less than a week, with the paper's owner, Richard Desmond, saying it had been done without his knowledge.

Guardian

Thanks to NewsHound for the heads-up

HATE, My Life in the British Far Right by Matthew Collins

Ever wondered why people join fascist organisations? We are giving you the chance to find out. Our supporters have the opportunity to buy an advance copy of Hate – the story of Matthew Collins’ former life inside the National Front, BNP and Combat 18.

This excellent book is about a young man growing up on a council estate in south London in the 1980s. Disruptive at school, bored with life and alienated with a changing society around him, Collins was an angry young man drawn towards the race hate politics of the British far-right. They spoke his language, described a worldview he could understand and targeted opponents he could hate. Over the next few years he rose through the ranks of fascist groups. He became the Chairman of south London NF and a close confidant of the party leader; he then went on to volunteer at the BNP's HQ in Welling south London; and he was active on the streets with Combat 18.

Within these groups were individuals prepared to hurt and even kill to make their dreams a reality. Gradually, however, he began to realise that the hatred, patriotism and violence haunting him – from the playground to the pub to the ballot box – stemmed from his own demons. And so he only had one option – to change sides.

Hate is his compelling story. Order a copy here

“Hate is Matthew’s personal story, brilliantly told, incredibly funny and occasionally bawdy. It’s a stark reminder of waste, but also a skilful and agonising confrontation with life, class, poverty and identity. Reading it leaves a lump in the throat at times, because it will confront you and challenge your complacency.”
Jon Cruddas MP

Hate can be obtained from HOPE not hate for a special price of just £10 (plus p&p), a 33% saving on the publisher’s price. http://www.hopenothate.org.uk/shop/hate

Collins tells a story of a world that is depressingly common. Boredom, voiceless and increasingly angry, growing numbers of young men turn to the far right for answers. But it is also provides hope and optimism. Collins realised what he was doing was wrong, he switched sides to make amends and now he commits his life to trying to persuade others not to make the mistakes he did.

From Hate to HOPE – it is a book that is well worth a read
Thanks
Nick Lowles

Follow my blog at http://www.hopenothate.org.uk/blog/

Man jailed for posting racist video clips on YouTube

A man has been jailed for 15 months for uploading racist video clips on to YouTube.

Gareth Hemingway, 29, of Bognor Regis, earlier pleaded guilty to five offences under the Public Order Act at Leeds Crown Court. The clips called for a "racial holy war" and were designed to provoke violence against ethnic minorities, particularly in Dewsbury. When he was arrested, police found Nazi and racist memorabilia at his home.

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said the material came to the attention of police when a journalist researching Dewsbury on the internet came across videos Hemingway, of Longford Road, had posted and reported them. The CPS said they included titles such as 'red, white and blue through and through' and 'Dewsbury needs help'. They also featured racist references and imagery including an assault on a black man by a white man.

Stuart Laidlaw, reviewing lawyer for the CPS, said: "Gareth Hemingway decided to use the very public forum of YouTube to distribute videos of racist and inflammatory nature which he had edited, and which were designed to provoke violence against ethnic minorities, particularly those living in Dewsbury. They called for a 'racial holy war', described acts of violence and made supportive references to far right groups such as Combat 18 and Patriots of White European Resistance."

Mr Laidlaw added: "Freedom of speech carries with it responsibilities. Publishing something that is abusive and insulting and that is likely to stir racial hatred is against the law and the CPS will work with the police to prosecute robustly anyone who does so."

BBC

BNP leader Nick Griffin calls for his Weaver Vale candidate Colin Marsh to quit over displaying Nazi insignia on Facebook

BNP leader Nick Griffin has called for the party’s Weaver Vale candidate Colin Marsh to be sacked for displaying SS and neo-Nazi group Combat 18 insignia on a social networking site.

With just days to go until the General Election, Griffin, appearing on BBC Radio 2’s Jeremy Vine show today (Friday, April 30), said: “If that’s genuine and he’s put those on, he’s going to be thrown out because those organisations are proscribed to members of the British National Party.”

Nothing British About the BNP, an anti-BNP campaign group, also say the election candidate’s Facebook friends include a number of violent neo-Nazis. The group’s deputy editor Maurice Cousins said: “Colin Marsh is a vile neo-Nazi sympathiser with values inimical to Britain’s liberal democratic way of life.”

The Chronicle contacted the BNP about the claims. Spokesman John Walker, who is himself a candidate in Alyn and Deeside, Flintshire, said there were no plans for Marsh to step down but confirmed there will be an investigation.

Chester Chronicle

EDL + BNP Bradford Riot Preview

No disrespect to normal, decent football supporters, but in 2001 an openly Nazi BNP stewards group called Combat 18 organised racist football hooligans (mainly Oldham, Stoke and Manchester hooligans) to riot in Oldham, where BNP chairman Nick Griffin was running for election as Oldham West and Royton candidate. Nick Griffin LOST, but the rioting spread to Bradford.

In 2009 BNP official Lee Barnes called for "white riots" across the UK. In 2010, shortly after a big EDL protest in Stoke, the EDL are organising right-wing hooligans to mob-up in Bradford, to coincide with the BNP general election campaign. The EDL Bradford rally isn't a protest, it's a pre-planned riot, and the EDL have no more right to commit this crime than car thieves have a "right" to steal cars.

Much as I appreciate the desire to slap Nazi traitors, Anti-Fascists and Asian lads please STAY CALM and don't give the BNP and EDL a PR victory.

All decent people in the EDL - you are being used by Nazis. Please STAY AWAY from the EDL Bradford protest - if you don't, then you CHOOSE to stand side-by-side with the ideology that bombed Britain during WW2.

bnpinfo

BNP Legal Director praises arson attack

A French centre for immigrants has been attacked by arsonists. Proving yet again that the BNP are nothing more than thugs in suits, the party’s Legal Director, Lee Barnes, has praised this criminal act in a post entitled ‘The French Rise Up‘. Barnes writes:

'When governments do not listen to the people, then the people will rise up against the government.

This is not a crime, this is an act of National Liberation.'

Not only does the Legal Director of the BNP praise the actions of criminals, he also issues a veiled threat (and not for the first time) of an uprising against the Government. This comes very close to sedition. So much for the BNP as a ‘mainstream’ party of Law and Order.

Another well known far-right group in the UK uses the slogan ‘Whatever it takes’. No doubt they’ll be pleased to see there are still ‘no nonsense’ men like Barnes in the BNP; men who have no respect for the law and justify the actions of terrorists in the name of ‘nationalism’.

Edmund Standing

Revealed: the secret links between the Scottish Defence League and the BNP

An SDL supporter at a recent demonstration in Glasgow

Despite party expulsion threat, some individuals have joined both camps

Links between the BNP and the right-wing Scottish Defence League can today be exposed by the Sunday Herald. Both groups have publicly tried to distance themselves from each other, with the BNP claiming it would expel members found to be active in the Scottish Defence League (SDL) and its English counterpart, the EDL.

But one long-standing BNP member in Scotland told the Sunday Herald the party and the SDL shared many members and supporters, adding that the threat of expulsion was merely “a publicity thing” designed to placate the media. He said: “I am a member of the BNP and a supporter of the Scottish Defence League. A lot of the supporters are the same.”

On the threat of expulsion, he added: “That is a publicity thing. We both have the same views on radical Islam and we both don’t want Sharia law in Britain. We created our group [the SDL] to support what was happening down south with the English Defence League. I couldn’t say that the SDL was set up by BNP activists, but I was one of the early ones to support it.”

The leagues are loosely organised groups which claim to campaign against Muslim extremism in the UK but are widely perceived to be racist organisations. This charge has been denied by the groups, as have suggestions that they are linked to the BNP.

Nick Griffin, leader of the British National Party, alleged the claim about the publicity stunt of the expulsion threat had been made by a “liar”. He said: “I can imagine that there will be people with really no understanding of our position who support both organisations, but that would be an incredibly misguided position.”

He said that “not for one moment” did he believe a “genuine” BNP member would support the SDL or EDL.

“That is because they would be more aware of our position on these organisations. There are clear, sensible, mainstream political ways in which to make points about issues such as radical extremism rather than parading in the streets. We have very little in common with the EDL and the SDL. We understand their opposition to radical Islam … [But] there are simply no connections between [them and] the BNP. We wouldn’t want any. The EDL are doing something that we abandoned nearly 10 years ago. We don’t want to spend time stomping up the street making a nuisance of ourselves.”

When asked why it was so dangerous for the BNP to be linked to the SDL, Mr Griffin said: “These organisations are very provocative. One day they will spark an almighty riot and the Left will try and demonise us for that.”

Gary Raikes, national organiser of the BNP in Scotland, said yesterday that every party member in Scotland received a newsletter informing them that anyone found to have links with the SDL or to have attended any of their demonstrations would be expelled from the party.

The claim that the expulsion threat was a publicity stunt was dismissed as “preposterous” by the party’s national press spokesman, who questioned the authenticity of the member who made the allegation. However, information gathered by David Miller, a professor of sociology at the University of Strathclyde and a co-founder of the campaigning website Spinwatch, alleges that at least three BNP members are also Defence League supporters. One is BNP Scotland member John Wilkinson. He leafleted on behalf of the party in the run-up to the European Elections, and is involved with running the SDL website.

SDL supporter Iain Brooks, from Glasgow, is also listed on a leaked BNP membership list. And Adam Lloyd, the BNP organiser for Bridgend in Wales, is another listed as an SDL supporter, according to Prof Miller. The Sunday Herald contacted all three via email.

The SDL protested in Glasgow last month, their demonstration tightly controlled by police. Officers stopped the SDL marching into the city centre. South of the Border, English Defence League marches have ended in arrests and violence. The English Defence League was set up following Muslim extremist protests at the homecoming parade of the Royal Anglian Regiment troops in March this year, during which soldiers were branded the “Butchers of Basra” by a small number of demonstrators.

EDL members were then mobilised from within football hooligan groups – it is understood that football intelligence officers from Strathclyde Police have been used to pinpoint activists in Scotland.

Aamer Anwar, a high-profile lawyer who led the Scotland United anti-racism and anti-facism march last month, said that “he was not surprised at all” that the SDL was linked to the BNP. He claimed that the extremist group was simply creating a “street army” for the political party, which polled more than one million votes in this year’s European election, winning two MEP seats, and has 58 councillors.

Mr Anwar said: “The BNP denied they had links [to the EDL/SDL] because they were trying to win electoral respect. What they can’t get away from is that at the root of their politics is fascism and racism. It is the same scenario as Adolf Hitler and the Brownshirts. Hitler denounced them, but they were central to the organisation. The whole thing is trying to mould a street army from racists, football hooligans and groups such as Combat 18. If the group was open and democratic it … wouldn’t operate in the way that it does. The whole basis of the SDL is simply to create street terror.”

The Sunday Herald was unable to reach the Scottish Defence League yesterday. Supporters have consistently refused to identify themselves by name to the media.

Sunday Herald

Fascist EDL Football Hooligans To Invade Stoke on the 23rd of January

The nice and cuddly EDL - off for a piss-up at Stoke in January

The neo-Nazi EDL have announced on their website they are to hold a violent racist gathering in Stoke on Saturday the 23rd of January 2010

With a sizeable number of far right representatives on the council from the BNP, despite all claims to the contrary, by bringing their violent football hooligan bandwagon to Stoke, their idea is to forment rioting and conflict which the fascists are hoping will be blamed on minorities, increasing support for the BNP future elections, a tactic used by the national front nine years ago when they helped ignite racial tension in the Midlands and the North, paving the way for the BNP to progress in the ballot box.

Everywhere they meet, the EDL (WDL & SDL) always claim they are simply "protesting against Islamic extremism", and their army of trolls led by Trevor Kelway have conducted a major propaganda assault on online newspaper forums, posting reams of lies, contortions and misinformation centred around the rights of free speech, while playing down the obvious unpleasant facts about the organisation - the 90% plus of racist football hooligans in the EDL, it's strong but denied links to the BNP, and the many captured photos and filmreels of Hitler salutes, violence and hardcore racism.

Most damning of all, in a recent visit to Wales, EDL came out in their true colours, forty EDL Bolton Wanderers hooligans making massed Hitler salutes, capped with the theft and burning of an ANTI-nazi flag, behaving just like old-fashioned Combat18. Despite numerous photographic evidence, the neo-Nazi denied everything, just as they always do, giving hollow promises to stop their members saluting Adolf at future events.

With big-money millionaire European islamophobic backers supporting the EDL, there is plenty at stake for the racist orgnisation and its secretive aims, (whatever they may be), therefore the EDL acts like a corporation rather than a ragtag far right fighting gang in terms of PR and media spin, learning from the political subterfuge of New Labour in spinning a web of deceit and lies across the length and breadth of the internet.

However much Alan Lake and Trevor Kelway fret about the public perceiving the EDL as a neo-Nazi organisation, once their football hooligan footsoldiers are on the streets, after a dozen or so pints in fascist-friendly a JD Wetherspoons pub, the law of the jungle takes over, and their hardcore neo-nazis and dangerous soccer thugs very much please themselves, spitting at passers-by, making Hitler salutes, chanting racist slogans, throwing missiles at police and anti-racist demonstrators.

Whereas a bonafide commercial organisation can be held to account over its corporate responsibilities, like the BNP and the NF before it, the EDL time after time washes its hands of the criminal behaviour of its followers, via slick television interviews, incessant trolling, claiming time after time that the racism and extreme violence is the result of "infiltration" not just by other fascist grups but by leftwingers and anarchists, even though any anti-racist protestors of substance would much rather be run over by a ten-tonne lorry than pay homage to Adolf Hitler.

The BNP say the EDL are a state-controlled operation, and reciprocate the tokenistic "proscription" of their rival group, whilst key BNP members continue to be involved behind the scenes of the EDL. The EDL website was designed by a BNP man Chris Renton, and their website links to fake BNP charity for war veterans, Nick Griffin fundraiser "Soldiers Off The Street" and plenty of experienced BNP personnel are giving them advice behind the scenes, but in public, the cherade of not linking each other continues for PR purposes.

Before the EDL visit, the BNP councillors on Stoke Council will be vying for point-scoring by speaking out against the EDL, showing just how hypocritical the BNP are, painting themselves as the good guys, and likewise the EDL will keep on reminding you via newspaper trolls that they are nothing like the BNP, as the war of propaganda reaches epic proportions.

One of the greatest lies of the EDL is that they are multiracial and antiracist, giving the impression not only that they might not be nazi, but they are an all-inclusive discussion group working with communities to tackle Islamic extremism. Alas! When the EDL's finest racist soccer hooligans leave Wetherspoons, the footsoldiers idea of speaking out against Islamic extremism is to scream and shout vile obsenity and insult against Allah and calls for all Muslims to leave the UK. As for being multi-ethnic, a handful of uncle toms reported to be five or six non-white heritage EDL members fails to lend any crediblity to this ridiculous lie. No matter how many times Trevor Kelway posts under a flurry of non-de-plumes, the sickening truth about the actual neo-Nazi nature of the EDL is plain for all to see.

Check YouTube, press photographs, blogs and EDL facebook accounts to get the true picture. Notice the extreme racism of official EDL members and organisers, and open support for Combat18, the NF and the BNP on Facebook walls, and hate remarks so sickening and extreme against Muslims, black and Asian people. Only a fool after reading all this could continue to believe that the EDL are not a violent racist,fascist organisation.

And yet the keyboard warriors from the EDL's misinformation department continue to plague not only local newspaper comments pages, the Telegraph and the Daily Mail, but Indymedia itself. Recent articles about the EDL's assault on Nottingham have been bombarded by comment after comment distorting facts and distracting threads from being critical of the EDL, inacting lies and distortions that Goebels' would have been proud of. Indymedia administrators need to be aware of the tactics used by troll-in chief Trevor Kelway and chums, and to act accordingly, neutralising any infiltration of both straightforward EDl support and cryptic undermining of anti-fascist moral authority. Pitting anarchists against socialists is a regular ploy, pretending to be one or the other to destroy Indymedia through in-fighting.

Antifascists and antiracists, anarchists and liberals of must remain united against the EDL, and refuse to allow Stoke to become the national home of ignorance and race hate in a dignified and steadfast manner, informing people what the EDL are really about. Black, white, young, old, Easterm European, traveller, gay and lesbian, Christian, Muslim, Hindu, Sikh, Jewish and Athiest, student, employed, unemployed, we are everybody and all, and despite the government's stubborn refusal to inact anti-race hatred laws to curtail this bandwagon of drunken soccer hooligans from wrecking communities under the premise of "protesting against Islamic extremism", we will send the EDL peacefully packing from our diverse and thriving city.

Communities United at Indymedia

File on 4 - Is far-right extremism a threat?

Yet another right-wing nutcase

Britain's security services have focused on Islamic extremism since the late 1990s but as BBC File on 4's Allan Urry discovered there are now concerns some resources should be devoted to the growing threat of far-right terror plots

When two attackers firebombed the Islamic Centre, a mosque in the heart of Luton's Bury Park area in May, they created a siege mentality for local Muslims, according to mosque official Farasat Latif.

"We are on edge as a community; everyone is expecting another attack," he told File on 4.

Tensions have been high in Luton since Al Muhajiroun, a group banned at the firebombed mosque, organised a demonstration in March against the war in Afghanistan as the Royal Anglian Regiment marched through the town after a tour of duty. This in turn sparked a counter-demonstration by a group called the United Peoples of Luton. This group became the English Defence League (EDL), whose protests against Islamic extremists around England have led to claims that it attracts far-right extremists hoping to foment racial tensions and encourage further protests, which the group denies.

The Islamic Centre received hate mail after the March protest, but there are fears the firebombing was more sinister - a premeditated attack rather than a hot-headed reaction to the controversial demonstration.

"Police told us that the getaway car was stolen nine months before the incident and had been kept off the road for a good eight to nine months," said Mr Latif. "Maybe the next attack could be an incendiary device left in the mosque, because people come with bags and we have many nationalities, so an English person wouldn't stand out."

He said mosque officials have been considering whether people should be searched before they enter, which could be a wise precaution in the current climate.

Earlier this month Neil Lewington, 44, a white supremacist from Reading, was jailed for being found in possession of explosives as he was about to board a train. Lewington, a fascist loner who hated Asians, regularly visited two white supremacist websites - Combat 18, a British neo-Nazi group, and a website for the Ku Klux Klan. According to Dr Matthew Feldman, an expert in far-right extremism who gave evidence at Lewington's trial, the authorities were fortunate to arrest him before he took any drastic action.

"I have every reason to believe this person has posed a very serious threat to public order in this country," he told File on 4.

Lewington, however was only arrested by chance, after being found drunk at a railway station.

Another lone far-right extremist, Martyn Gilleard, who was found to have four home-made nail bombs when police raided his flat, was also arrested by chance as part of an investigation into child pornography. Like others described as "lone wolves", he visited extremist websites and web forums that provided information about how to make bombs.

Edmund Standing, author of The BNP and The Online Fascist Network, said: "The fact that a lot of people [who use these websites] may be fantasists and do not pose a direct threat, doesn't mean these forums and websites don't, because for every 20 of them there could be one person who is actually twisted enough do something like this. These kind of groups and these kind of forums create an atmosphere in which it is seen to be more and more acceptable to express these hateful views."

He said the websites advocated "lone wolf tactics" where anonymous individuals turned up at meetings and carried out subversive and violent actions.

"We face a far more difficult task dealing with these individuals, lone extremists who go to these groups or hang around the edges of these groups and become radicalised," added Mr Standing.

In fact, the threat posed by lone extremists was recently flagged up by a member of the Association of Chief Police Officers (Acpo), while a senior member of the Metropolitan Police has voiced concerns about the possibility of a major terror attack by right wing extremists.

In April 2007 the government began its Preventing Violent Extremism (PVE) action plan to work with Muslim communities to "isolate, prevent and defeat violent extremism". There are suggestions the government is planning to widen the scope of PVE to cover far right extremists as well, but no minister would be interviewed by File on 4. But a statement from the Department of Communities and Local Government said: "Government is working to address all forms of extremism, including violent far right groups. Over the coming months, we will be implementing a more comprehensive strategy to strengthen resilience to such extremism."

Dr Feldman thinks the move would be a timely intervention: "I can't recommend enough the work that the police are doing in terms of a preventive agenda and I'm sure it's going to move into considering these very overtly racist and far-right websites that are clearly inciting violence and racial hatred."

He said most security service resources had been devoted to Islamic extremism since the late 1990s and the attacks of 7 July 2005. But he added: "I think the appreciation now is that doesn't mean the far right has gone away... some of the treatment and attention to these issues has in fact galvanised a white British nationalist in terms of acting where before they would have stayed at home grumbling."

Listen to the programme here
Download the podcast from here

File on 4

Pictures of public figures posted on neo-Nazi website

Redwatch: run by police informer and glue-sniffer Kevin Watmough

The PSNI has been urged to investigate a neo-Nazi website with links to Combat 18 after it posted pictures of high profile politicians, journalists and trade unionists with a sinister plea for information on them.

The police were asked to look at the vile far-right racist site Redwatch after Belfast councillor Niall Kelly discovered several pictures of himself along with dozens of images of members of the public attending rallies in Belfast city centre. A caption above the SDLP man’s picture, taken at last month’s anti-racism rally in support of the Romanian families who were intimidated out of south Belfast, read: “Fenian reds, causing trouble in South Belfast attempting to win support for Gypsy parasites turning the Protestant Village area into a slum.”

In England, a number of MPs and Mersyside trade union leader Alec McFadden received death threats from right wing violent extremists after their details appeared on Redwatch. It is now feared that some people in Northern Ireland could now be targeted.

Pictures of Health Minister Michael McGimpsey, former Belfast Lord Mayor Tom Ekin, north Belfast SDLP councillor Pat Convery and prominent UDA figure Jackie McDonald attending various rallies, including anti-racism and anti-war protests, also appear on the sickening site. It is understood some of the photographs were lifted from Mr Kelly’s Flickr site.

“Obviously I am concerned to see pictures of myself and party colleagues appear on this sinister website,” Mr Kelly told the Belfast Telegraph.

“Since this matter has been brought to my attention I have alerted the police who have informed me that they have been monitoring this website for a while now as this organisation appears to be engaged in hi-tech fascism. However, neither I nor my party will be deterred from standing for the rights of others. The SDLP has faced down threats before and we will continue to do what is right as we strive to fight against racism, sectarianism and bigotry.”

Redwatch was originally published in paper form by the far right racist group Combat 18 in March 1992. Among the Redwatch targets are journalist Eamonn McCann, Irish Trade Union Congress leader Claire Moore and Patrick Yu, executive director of Northern Ireland Council for Ethnic Minorities whose contact details including telephone number and address have been posted alongside his picture.

Crowd shots showing members of the public attending at rallies in Belfast dating back as far as 2004 are also posted and in a worrying development appeal for information on those in the picture.

A caption read: “Send us details of your local red scumbags — we want their names, addresses, phone numbers, photographs, work details — anything and everything about them to publish here in the same way as they are doing to our people. We are going to give them exactly the same treatment as they are. Fight back. Any further info on the freaks below will be gratefully received.”

However journalist Eamon McCann said he would not be intimidated.

“I am not in the least bit intimidated. I would be almost insulted if these people had been making a list of their enemies in Northern Ireland and I was not on it.”

A spokeswoman for the PSNI said: “We do not comment on the security of individuals. The police service does not monitor internet sites on a day-to-day basis. However it will take appropriate action when complaints are received of criminal offences that occur within its jurisdiction.”

Belfast Telegraph

What had white supremacist planned?

Neil Lewington who turned his bedroom into a bomb-making factory has been convicted of terrorism and explosive charges. But how dangerous was he and what was he planning to do? Those are the two questions that have been hardest to answer in his trial at the Old Bailey. But what is clear is that his apprehension was a matter of good fortune alone.

In October 2008 he was travelling by train to meet a woman he had contacted in an internet chatroom on his mobile phone. He was drunk and abused the train guard. When he urinated on the platform at Lowestoft, he was arrested. But when officers opened his blue holdall, a public order arrest became a counter-terrorism investigation. Inside, they found two improvised but ingenious incendiary devices.

Counter-terrorism officers dashed to the 43-year-old's Reading home, which he shared with his parents. There they found extreme right-wing material, including videos of notorious racist or white-supremacist bombers. He had stockpiled chemicals, powders circuitry and wiring. In short, it looked like a bomb factory. And, according to the prosecution, Lewington was on the cusp of launching a campaign against anyone he regarded as "non-British".

But this case is full of mysteries. During 14 interviews, Lewington's only reply to counter-terrorism officers was "no comment". He chose not to take to the witness box at the Old Bailey - and his legal team offered up no other witnesses or material in his defence. He hardly looked up from the dock during the trial, sitting impassively as the proceedings went on around him.

Extremist material

Dr Matthew Feldman, an expert in neo-Nazi groups and imagery, gave evidence at the trial on the items that police recovered from Lewington's home.

He told the jury the material Lewington kept hidden in his room was exactly the kind of literature and notes you would expect to find belonging to a white supremacist neo-Nazi.

The most important document was Lewington's handwritten notebook entitled the "Waffen SS UK Members Handbook". Experts like Dr Feldman have not come across the title before, but its contents bore a striking similarity to other "field manuals" circulated among other neo-Nazi groups like Combat 18. Inside was a note written in Lewington's own hand.

"A new group has been formed, the Waffen SS UK. We have 30 members split into 15 two-man cells," it read. "We are highly trained ex-military personnel and will use incendiary and explosive devices throughout the UK at random until all non-British people as defined by blood are remoived from our country.

"This is no joke. In this country the most serious domestic terrorist threat is the ALF [Animal Liberation Front], start rewriting the books? Finally our motto: You CANNOT STOP WHAT CAN'T BE STOPPED"

The book included further notes relating to explosives and plans for picking targets. Other material loosely linked Lewington to "Blood and Honour", a British social scene built around neo-Nazi music. And unusually for a British man, Lewington was also interested in two other groups - the Ku Klux Klan and the Afrikaners who supported apartheid.

So Lewington's personal ideology was broad, encompassing hatred of other ethnicities, a white supremacist anger, but also a fascist yearning for a new world order.

Loner tendencies

Lewington himself bragged to women of being a skinhead who beat up Asian men. But counter-terrorism officers found no evidence the defendant was or is a member of any extreme right-wing political party or group in the UK or elsewhere. Furthermore, they had no evidence that he was associating with any known or suspected right-wing extremist.

These loner tendencies fit in with what we know about the rest of his life. Lewington lived with his parents - but had not spoken to his father for 10 years.

He did nothing to help at home. There was no lock on the bedroom door, but he had covered the keyhole with modelling clay. He had held down jobs in electronics - but not worked for a decade when arrested.

One would-be girlfriend was put off him because he kept making racist threats against black and Asian men. And during a relationship with another woman, he bought a toy chemistry set and told her he could use it to make explosives. He said he had made tennis ball bombs to explode in the woods.

Lewington appears to have had no home computer - although police did find a laptop cable. He had no training in chemicals or explosives. Yet he produced devices which, according to scientists, were more dangerous and professional than many DIY efforts uncovered by police.

So if he wasn't a member of any neo-Nazi group and wasn't spending his nights scouring the internet for bomb-making instructions, how did he learn how to make these devices?

Neighbourly behaviour

Lewington's silence in court means we may never know. But one incident following his arrest was incredibly revealing about his state of mind. Detectives at London's high security Paddington Green police station conducted a "safety interview" with Lewington, asking him for any information they might need to protect the public from uncovered explosives.

The officers were particularly concerned about a mechanism placed against the bedroom wall. Lewington told them it wasn't a bomb. It was the inner workings of an automatic air freshener. He'd adapted the motor and added a cord and metal nut. And during the night, at regular intervals, the motor would spin and flick the nut against the wall.

What was it for, asked the detectives. To annoy his neighbours, he replied.

BBC News

Man 'on cusp' of bombing campaign

A racist arrested by chance at a railway station was "on the cusp" of waging a terror campaign using tennis balls and weedkiller, a jury has heard.

Neil Lewington, 43, had a bomb factory at his parents' home in Reading, Berks, and wanted to target those he thought "non-British", prosecutors alleged.

The Old Bailey heard he was carrying bomb parts when arrested at Lowestoft, Suffolk, for abusing a train conductor.

He denies eight charges related to terrorism or explosives.

Brian Altman QC, prosecuting, said Mr Lewington was found to be carrying the component parts of two "viable, improvised incendiary devices".

His holdall had been searched after his arrest, when he was also held for drinking and smoking on the train and urinating in public, the court heard.

This man who had strong if not fanatical right-wing leanings and opinions was on the cusp of embarking on a campaign of terrorism
Brian Altman QC, prosecuting

Later searches of Mr Lewington's home revealed a notebook entitled "Waffen SS UK members' handbook" which contained drawings of electronics and chemical mixtures, jurors were told.

"In addition to all of that, the police discovered evidence that the defendant sympathised with and quite clearly adhered to white supremacist and racist views," said Mr Altman.

Mr Lewington had an "unhealthy interest" in the London nail bomber David Copeland, America's Unabomber and Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh, the court heard.

Mr Altman said: "The effect of these finds is to prove that this man, who had strong if not fanatical right-wing leanings and opinions, was on the cusp of embarking on a campaign of terrorism against those he considered non-British."

He said Mr Lewington had two video compilations of news and documentary footage about bombers and bombings both in Britain and the US.

'No qualifications'

This interest had gone "far beyond the mere intellectual or academic levels", Mr Altman said.

"In the privacy of his own bedroom and far from the gaze of his parents with whom he lived, this defendant had amassed the component parts of and had begun the manufacture of improvised explosive or incendiary devices," he said.

Mr Altman said Mr Lewington left school at 16 without qualifications but had worked in a number of electronics jobs.

He had been unemployed for 10 years after being sacked from his last job for being drunk and, though he lived with his parents, had not spoken to his father for 10 years.

His mother said he had placed Plasticine in the keyhole of his bedroom door so no-one could see inside, the court heard.

It was alleged that Mr Lewington, described as "a loner", had met a number of girlfriends through mobile phone chatlines.

One said she was put off when he made racist remarks, while another - an army cadet sergeant - said he asked if she had dealings with the Nazi group Combat 18, the court heard.

Mr Lewington had taken some weedkiller from her and later told her he had bought a child's chemistry set to use for making explosives, Mr Altman said.

Mr Lewington is accused of preparing for terrorism by having the bomb parts in a public place.

He also faces two charges of having articles for terrorism - including the weedkiller, firelighters and three tennis balls - two of having documents for terrorism and another of collecting information for terrorism.

Two further counts allege he possessed an explosive device "with intent to endanger life" and that he had explosives, namely weedkiller.

The trial continues.

BBC News

Ed Balls considers ban on BNP teachers

The government is investigating a possible ban on British National party members working as teachers in schools in a move that could challenge the legitimacy of the far-right party.

A source close to the schools secretary, Ed Balls, said there had been several meetings on the issue with teaching unions which are lobbying for a change in teachers' contracts to prevent them from working if they are members of far-right groups including the BNP. The issue was being "actively looked at", the source said.

It comes after it emerged that the General Teaching Council for England (GTC), which registers teachers to work in state schools, had rejected appeals to ban BNP members. Lawyers warned the council it could be accused of discriminating against members of the far-right party if it refused to register them.

Five members of the council's own governing body wrote to the Guardian on Saturday to appeal for a national debate on the issue. They claimed the GTC was "hiding" behind legal advice to avoid banning the BNP from registering as teachers.

Chris Keates, the general secretary of the NASUWT teaching union, confirmed she had held several discussions with Balls about the possibility of a ban and had called for a change to teachers' contracts to prevent BNP members from teaching.

The source close to Balls said the issue was being re-examined in the light of the election to the European parliament of two BNP members, including party leader Nick Griffin, who has been convicted of inciting racial hatred.

The GTC was advised by lawyers that it would be discriminatory to ban members of a lawful political party. It was also told that if it declared any views on the BNP, it could be accused of lacking impartiality in any subsequent disciplinary hearings involving teachers in the far-right party.

A BNP membership list leaked last year included the names of 15 teachers, four nurses and one prison officer as well as 17 former police officers and 16 members of the armed forces. Members of the BNP, National Front and Combat 18 are banned from joining the police or becoming prison officers.

In the letter to the Guardian, the five GTC members argued that legislation required everyone working in schools to "promote good race relations and community cohesion", which would be incompatible with some views held by the BNP. The party supports voluntary repatriation of non-white citizens.

Guardian

Teachers' body won't stop BNP working in schools

• General Teaching Council accused of failing to act
• Party members banned from police and prisons

The General Teaching Council for England is today accused by members of its governing body of failing to act to prevent British National party members from teaching in schools.

The GTCE has refused to write a clause into its new code for teachers barring BNP members from working in state schools. This was after receiving legal advice that to do so could "prejudice" teachers who are members of the far-right party.

In a letter to the Guardian today, five members of the governing body of the GTCE – which registers teachers to work in state schools in England and conducts disciplinary hearings – call for an urgent public debate. "We believe that being a member of the BNP is fundamentally inconsistent with the ethos of schools in this country," they write.

They say the election of two BNP candidates to the European parliament, including the party's leader, Nick Griffin, who has a conviction for inciting racial hatred, has made the issue even more urgent.

Members of the BNP, the National Front and Combat 18 are barred from working in the police force or prison service. The Church of England is considering a similar measure. Teaching leaders called for the government to rewrite teachers' contracts, banning BNP members from schools, saying failure to do so was allowing "creeping legitimisation" of the party.

The GTCE is due to debate its new code next month. A draft version said "respect, equality, diversity and inclusion" were among eight "core values" that should be shared by all in the teaching profession.

It also included the ruling that teachers "maintain standards of behaviour, both inside and outside school". But the GTCE refused to include a clause banning BNP membership. In a statement, the GTCE said it was advised it could not bar members of a "lawful" political party. Any council member who expressed a view against the BNP could be accused of discrimination, prejudicing the case.

"As a regulatory body, we cannot regulate against the beliefs of professionals, only their actions and conduct," it said. Any council member who expressed anti-BNP views could not adjudicate in hearings involving BNP members and might compromise the council's impartiality.

The letter to the Guardian reads: "The new code should clearly state that BNP members will not be eligible for registration as teachers by the GTC ... If it is possible for other professions to resolve the legal difficulties, then it should be possible for the GTC." The authors argue that legislation requires everyone working in schools to "promote good race relations and community cohesion".

Kirit Modi, a former teacher, deputy of education at Islington council, north London, and now an education consultant, is one of the signatories. He said: "We have been told we can't discuss this matter because it will cause legal difficulties. We haven't been able to debate this within the GTC and that's why we are calling for a wider debate."

A list of BNP members leaked last year included 15 teachers, four nurses, a prison officer, 17 former police officers and 16 members of the armed forces.

Chris Keates, general secretary of the NASUWT teaching union, said BNP members should be banned across the public sector. "If BNP members are too racist or fascist to be in the police then they are too racist or fascist to work with children.

"It would be easy for someone in the BNP, holding the views they do, to discriminate against pupils. It would be easy for a BNP member to exclude pupils from black or minority ethnic groups by simply not giving them equal attention and that would be very hard to detect," she said. "I can understand the GTC may be in a difficulty of prohibiting somebody through a code of conduct. But I don't think the GTC is powerless. They could be campaigning to change teachers' contracts."

The union has lobbied successive secretary of states for education to tackle the issue in teachers' contracts.

Guardian