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

Seeds of amity

Promoting community cohesion among the voters of tomorrow has become a priority in towns where fringe political groups are taking root

When Noma Moyo, a refugee from Zimbabwe, stands in front of a school assembly to tell her story, she always asks pupils what they think about asylum seekers. At Tong high school in Bradford, the general consensus seems to be that the words "asylum seeker" and "illegal" automatically go together.

It's a misapprehension that teacher Hayley Clacey is keen to debunk, which is one of the reasons why she has invited local charity Retas (Refugee Training and Advisory Service) to the school. Throughout the day, refugees from Russia, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Cameroon will work with children and class teachers to explain why people have to flee their own countries and what life is really like for those seeking refuge in the UK.

Bradford has two BNP councillors and 17 more candidates from the party seeking election next week. This political climate is something of which the school is keenly aware. With a catchment drawn primarily from two poor, predominantly white council estates, teachers are using the freedom of their hour-a-week tutorial programme to combat racism. The workshop offered by Retas gives children who have limited experience of other cultures a chance to interact with people whom they might otherwise only learn about via the headlines of their local paper.

As the class gradually begins to realise that asylum seekers tend not to live in big fancy houses, are prohibited from getting a job rather than being workshy, live off shopping vouchers and have often had to leave their families behind or even seen relatives killed, 30-odd pairs of eyes widen and there is the occasional audible gasp.

This is the kind of initiative now being promoted in towns across the north west of England where the BNP has gained a foothold and is now seeking to expand.

Influencing the voters of tomorrow while they're still young has also become a priority in Burnley, which, together with Oldham, experienced violent race-related disturbances in the summer of 2001. Around £250m has been spent on a total overhaul of Burnley's education system, with entire schools being closed, demolished, restructured and rebuilt.

"There was definitely a problem with the way that schools were organised in this town," says Labour councillor Mark Townsend. Of three councillors in his ward, Gannow, two are BNP - including the longest serving BNP councillor in the country - and he is keenly aware of the threat to his own seat.

Because of the way school catchment areas had been set historically, he explains, Burnley's secondary schools had been either overwhelmingly white or overwhelmingly black. The white schools got good results and were oversubscribed, and the minority ethnic schools got poor ones. All this is changing, partly as a result of a report published last summer on the reasons for the disturbances.

"The county council is completely reorganising the schools, including the catchment areas, so there is a better mix of pupils," says Townsend. "Five new schools have just opened and we've got rid of all the old ones so the kids now have the chance to grow up together. The BNP are latching on to that and calling it forced integration. Of course you can never force integration, but you have to give people who would be open to that the chance to experience it."

There are also community and interfaith events being held on a regular basis to bring people together and foster understanding between various factions in the Burnley population. But as Townsend points out, "to be honest, the people who vote BNP don't go to events like that, so you've really got to start in the schools".

In Stoke-on-Trent, where the BNP has five councillors and 10 candidates standing for election this time round, Labour councillor Pervez Mohammed, who holds the community cohesion portfolio, says the council has joined forces with organisations such as NorScarf (North Staffordshire Campaign Against Racism and Fascism) to encourage more people to make their voice heard in local elections and so dilute the effects of fringe party candidates.

"We are doing a lot of work to encourage people to vote," he explains. "We need to get the message out that not voting will not bring solutions to people's problems." In fact, he suggests, things could get worse if more members of the fringe parties get elected.

"It's also about getting people to realise what fringe parties stand for. They play on fears about issues such as housing, jobs and immigration, send out misleading information and contribute absolutely nothing. Meetings are sometimes attended but they do not normally speak at these or make any positive contribution."

A NorScarf spokesperson says that despite their door-to-door anti-racist literature drops, community meetings, awareness-raising street stalls in town centres and a variety of schools activities illustrating the evils of fasism and racism, he's concerned for Stoke's future.

"I'm not terribly optimistic at the moment. They [the BNP] have five councillors already, and the risk is there'll be more. The worry is that we'll end up like Barking and Dagenham, with a BNP opposition. I don't see any easy answers at the moment, else we'd be doing it."

It might be a long-term strategy, but back at Tong high school in Bradford, it's clear from the children's faces that the refugees' stories have sunk in. Starting to challenge opinions when children are young, before fears and misconceptions have been reinforced by prejudiced media messages, appears to be working.

Guardian

Brewery boss slams BNP

A brewery boss has labelled the BNP "racist" after it emerged the party had used one of his pubs to hold a meeting.

William Lees-Jones, managing director of JW Lees, said he was "shocked" after a Guardian investigation revealed the Assheton Arms Hotel, on Market Place, was the venue for the far-right British National Party's Middleton conference on Thursday 15 March.

"There's no way we would support such a terrible organisation," he said. "We would not want to be associated with them. They are racists and there's no place for that sort of thinking. I recognise people's right to freedom of speech, but they can go and do it somewhere else."

He added: "It is the last meeting they will be holding at the Assheton Arms."

Mr Lees-Jones said the BNP had booked the function room under an alias, saying it was for a business meeting. The manageress of the pub was unaware of the party's presence, he added.

The BNP was due to hold another meeting at the Assheton Arms on Tuesday night but was forced to cancel after Mr Lees-Jones became aware of their conference. Organiser of the BNP Rochdale branch, Kevin Bryan, said: "There will still be a meeting in Middleton. Even if it is on a car park we'll do it, because that's what the people of Middleton want."

Mr Bryan said pub landlords across Greater Manchester welcome the BNP's meetings and the party had used JW Lees pubs throughout the north west for many years. He added he would send a letter to all party members to boycott JW Lees pubs in the north west after Mr Lees-Jones' comments.

Two weeks ago, the BNP declared the town as one of its biggest growth areas and considered fielding a candidate for the local elections in May. But last week it was announced that no candidate from the BNP had been put forward in Rochdale borough.

The party now plans to hold regular monthly meetings in the area after the success of the March event, attended by around 30 people. Mr Bryan said a look at the BNP's party manifesto shows there is "nothing terrible about the organisation". Their 2006 council election manifesto promised an "asylum clampdown" and an end to "all council spending on all politically-correct projects designed to favour Labour and Liberal Democrat pet minorities".

Middleton Guardian