Calderdale pair go on trial accused of being 'fanatic' members of banned neo-Nazi terrorist group

Alice Cutter, 23, and Mark Jones, 25, both from Halifax, Garry Jack, 24, and Connor Scothern, 18, deny being members of the proscribed far-right organisation.

The extremist group was outlawed following National Action members' celebration of the murder of MP Jo Cox by extremist Thomas Mair on June 16, 2016.

The four are charged with membership of the group between December 17, 2016 and September 5, 2017 after it was banned by then-Home Secretary Amber Rudd.

Opening the case today (Mon), prosecutor Barnaby Jameson QC warned jurors, the trial would lead them into a "world as dark as a black sun".

He told Birmingham Crown Court how the defendants vowed to wage a white Jihad - a "holy war" in favour of ethnic cleansing and eradication of the Jews.

Jones was known as "Grand Daddy Terror" among the die-hard group who had the "unapologetically racist" ideology that "Hitler was right", jurors were told.

Mr Jameson said nothing as extreme as National Action had emerged since the 1930s as it advocated the Holocaust and believed all Jews should be "annihilated".

The court was told Cutter, Jones, Jack and Scothern were all members of the terrorist group who were united by the "fellowship of hate".

Mr Jameson said: "Terrorists have many faces, some more obvious than others.

"They can be unremarkable-looking people on the surface. Scratch a little deeper and you would be astonished to find terrorists leading straight lives.

"There are individuals with terrorist goals and individuals with warped ideologies that will be shocking to all of you if not all.

"We are entering the neo-Nazi world of white Jihad.

"We are talking about a secretive group of die-hard neo-Nazis with no compunction whatever of obtaining their objectives through terror.

"A group with admiration for Hitler and advocation of the Holocaust. A group with a shared enthusiasm for ethnic cleansing and eradication of the Jews.

"This is a case about a fellowship of hate, immovable hate. Hate so defiant that the accused would rather break the terrorism laws than their bonds of hate.

"There was a time when a European nation sunk so low that the architectures were convicted of crimes against humanity.

"The Nuremberg Trials were to hold those to account. The list of men, women and children who suffered under the Nazis may be never truly understood.

"The Jews suffered on an unthinkable level. You will be forgiven for thinking that the ideology of Hitler had died out at Nuremberg. You would be wrong.

"For the accused, Hitler's work will always be unfinished. This is a group for which the final solution to the Jewish question remains to be annihilation."

Mr Jameson described National Action's ideology as "anything but innocuous".

He added: "It is unapologetically racist.

"It advocated the same Nazi aims and ideals. It advocated the removal of people who did not fit that ideology. Jews, Blacks and others.

"When Jo Cox was murdered, one NA member, Jack Coulson, declared her killer 'an absolute f***ing legend' "The ultimate aim of the group is the all-out race war. This is not a talking shop.

"Members of NA were equipping themselves with weapons and the ability to produce explosives.

"Jack Coulson once constructed a pipe bomb. This case will by its nature will lead you, the jury, into a world as dark as a black sun.

"These words are chosen for a reason.

"It is a world that will transport the world back to Nazi German and the horrors of the concentration camps, the gas chambers and the crematoriums.

"You will be exposed to the language of shocking racial hatred, humour beyond sick, photos of victims of the Nazi regime.

"It is there to give you insight into the mindset of each of the accused."

Mr Jameson explained how National Action was set up in 2013 by two undergraduates Ben Raymond and Alex Davies.

He said: "While other far-right groups were fragmenting, National Action marched into this vacuum.

"Nothing as extreme had emerged since the 1930s. Whatever the group lacked in size, it made up for in vehement extremism.

"It spread into small cells across the UK. They were active in terms of screening and recruitment. It spread via the web.

"By 2016 it was staging flash demonstrations. The locations were kept secret until the last minute in a way to keep the authorities on the back foot.

"These often turned violent. However, 2016 ended in a way that you may think was inevitable with the banning of this group.

"Mark Jones is known as Daddy Terror, Grand Daddy Terror and other names on messaging groups.

"There was a flash demonstration on January 23, 2016 by National Action. There is a banner that will be familiar as the case unfolds.

"It says 'Refugees not welcome. Hitler was right'.

"The expression of "Hitler was right" is one we will return to again and again, often with his image on the banner.

"On this photo, you can see a banner with a black background and a white symbol. That is the symbol of National Action. This is a symbol you will become very familiar with.

"There was a National Action demo on February 6, 2016. An individual by the name of Jack Renshaw made a speech on something called the York Forum.

"During the speech, he called Jews 'parasites'. On February 27, 2016, there was a flash demonstration in Liverpool, which lead to something called the Battle of Liverpool."

Footage from this demonstration and the subsequent violence is due to be shown in court during the trial.

All defendants are charged with being members of the proscribed organisation contrary to section 11 of the Terrorism Act 2000.

Jones and Cutter, of Halifax, Jack, of Shard End, Birmingham and Scothern, of Nottingham, deny the charges.

The trial, which is expected to last for six weeks, continues.

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