1 year ago
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A antheral convicted of acting arsenic “head of propaganda” for a banned neo-Nazi violent radical acceptable up to wage a contention warfare successful Britain has received an extended 10-year sentence, including 2 years connected licence.
Ben Raymond, 32, co-founded the “unapologetically racist” organisation National Action successful 2013, which promoted taste cleansing and attacks connected LGBTQ+ radical and liberals.
It was banned nether panic authorities in December 2016, becoming the archetypal far-right radical to beryllium proscribed since the British Union of Fascists successful 1940. After the determination by the Home Office, Raymond, from Wiltshire, helped National Action morph into a caller radical called NS131 – National Socialist Anti-Capitalist Action.
At Bristol crown court, Judge Christopher Parker QC sentenced Raymond to an eight-year situation word and a two-year extended play connected licence.
He volition service a minimum of 5 years and 4 months’ imprisonment earlier helium tin beryllium considered for parole. He is besides taxable to the notification provisions of the Terrorism Act for 15 years.
Passing sentence, the justice said National Action planned to enlistee young radical into its ranks and Raymond’s relation arsenic the propaganda main was successful effect “grooming” them.
“You intended that the worldly should beryllium utilized successful bid to enlistee caller members, and specifically caller young members,” helium said. “It is wide this propaganda worldly was aimed astatine these young people. In effect, these young radical were astatine hazard of being groomed by your worldly to perpetrate acts of utmost radical unit [with] which National Action nary uncertainty had sympathy.”
Raymond, from Swindon, was recovered blameworthy by a assemblage of being a subordinate of a proscribed organisation contrary to conception 11 of the Terrorism Act. He was further convicted of 2 counts of possessing a papers oregon grounds of usage to a violent contrary to conception 58 of the act. He was acquitted of 4 further akin offences.
Barra McGrory QC, defending, sought to differentiate betwixt National Action and violent groups specified arsenic the IRA and al-Qaida.
“The views of the organisation are undoubtedly repugnant to galore radical successful the UK,” helium said. “This is an highly tiny radical of individuals which is not 1 that is really engaged successful convulsive violent activity. Neither is it 1 that has a operation successful presumption of being organised into cells successful militaristic guerrilla warfare, specified arsenic al-Qaida oregon the Irish Republican Army.”
McGrory said that since Raymond was archetypal arrested 4 years ago, his “view of the world” had changed, having formed a narration and go a father.
The tribunal heard National Action members had entree to rifles, a pump-action shotgun, a machete, a crossbow and CS gas.
The prosecutor, Barnaby Jameson QC, likened Raymond to Hitler’s propaganda chief, Joseph Goebbels, and said helium avoided plotting attacks oregon hoarding weapons himself. Instead, Raymond was described arsenic the “public face” of National Action.
In September 2015, Raymond gave an interrogation for a conception connected the BBC’s Victoria Derbyshire programme called Radicals: The Proud Racist. He told the interviewer his perfect Britain was a “white Britain”, and claimed radical were coming to the UK “to replace, rape and execution our people”.
He besides wrote 2 books connected his views. In his first, titled Attack!, helium wrote: “We are done mincing our words, present we request thing that flames the humor and fans the honour.”
In his 2nd book, A Case for Fascism, helium wrote: “Nobody has ever gotten thing by being ‘moderate’. Nobody has ever gotten anyplace by being ‘nice’.”
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