In December 2016, Amber Rudd, the then Home Secretary, banned the Neo-Nazi protest group National Action under section 3(3)(a) of the Terrorism Act (2000). It was the first right-wing group in British history designated as a ‘terrorist’ organization even though the group itself had never carried out a ‘terrorist’ act. After the ban, it's alleged that N.A. members formed new groups under different names to continue promoting their ideology.
While two aliases – Scottish Dawn and NS131 (National Socialist Anti-Capitalist Action) – were subsequently proscribed after media reports of their links to National Action, it's alleged that other factions continue to operate.
One is the System Resistance Network, which was found to be recruiting new members in Wales last year. It's understood that police and the Home Office are discussing whether to ban this faction as well.
Other National Action factions are alleged to be the Scottish Nationalist Society, the Triple K Mafia (a reference to the Ku Klux Klan) and the Sonnenkrieg (Sun War) Division.
All factions have allegedly continued spreading National Action’s ideology, which a former member described as the aim to achieve a “white Britain by any means necessary”.
Several National Action members have been prosecuted for membership of one of the banned groups, which is punishable by up to 10 years in prison. But the law only covers National Action, Scottish Dawn and NS131, allowing members to continue their operations under a series of different names – a technique used prolifically by Anjem Choudary’s network of Islamists.
A Report on the Trial at Birmingham Crown Court
In March this year, four alleged members of National Action were put on trial at Birmingham Crown Court charged with being members of N.A. after it was banned in December 2016. Those accused were; Alice Cutter, 22, and her fiancé, Mark Jones, 24, both of Sowerby Bridge, near Halifax, West Yorkshire, Garry Jack, 23, of Birmingham and 18-year-old Connor Scothern of Nottingham.
Alice Cutter denied ever being a member of N.A., either before or after the ban, while Mark Jones and Garry Jack said they quit the organisation when it was banned. Connor Scothern claimed to have quit the group a day before it was made illegal.
The prosecution argued that supporting a National Action successor group, such as Triple K Mafia, was the same as belonging to, or supporting National Action. While there was evidence that the accused hadn't changed their views, there appeared to be very little evidence that they had joined any of the successor groups.
With a lack of any real evidence of wrongdoing, the prosecution appeared to try and portray the accused in as bad a light as possible, in the hope of getting a conviction.
For example, Alice Cutter's involvement in a Miss Hitler beauty pageant using the name Buchenwald Princess was brought up by the prosecution. This event took place in June 2016, before N.A. was banned.
Although she admitted being involved with N.A. when it was still legal, she claimed she had never been a member of the organisation. Prosecutor Barnaby Jameson QC said Miss Cutter's partner, Mark Jones, visited Buchenwald in Germany in 2016 so the name she chose to enter the beauty pageant was no coincidence. She freely admitted that she took part in the contest and said it was just a publicity stunt to attract new members.
In an interview accompanying a webpage about the pageant she wrote:
“It is important to me that there’s a balance of feminine to masculine in the movement – without feminine involvement, what would a movement be?
This entry statement could hardly be called controversial but it's the type of rhetoric reminiscent of Nazi Germany which is why the prosecution introduced it - as an attempt to further demonise her in front of the jury.“Women are the most important figures when it comes to teaching and raising the next generation to be strong and proud. We need to step up, be the lionesses we ought to be and rip apart the hyenas laughing at us as we get raped, beaten, brainwashed and de-feminised en masse. Hyenas have no part in our pride and never will.”
Although some people might find the idea of a Miss Hitler beauty pageant offensive, it's not illegal. The competition, which Alice Cutter won, took place in June 2016 before N.A. was proscribed. Therefore it's hard to see how this beauty pageant has any relevance to the charge of being a member of N.A. after it was banned.
There has been a Miss Hitler contest every year for the past five years on the Russian social media network VKontakte (VK). It usually ends up being closed down after appeals from Israeli groups but there is no shortage of contestants and the girls make no attempt to hide their identities.
Miss Hitler contest 2019, image Twitter
Alice Cutter's fiancé Mark Jones was accused of posing for a photograph in Buchenwald Concentration Camp's underground morgue while giving a Nazi salute. Jurors were shown a picture of two men in the room holding a National Action flag. This incident took place before National Action was proscribed.
National Action's tweet of two members doing the salute in Buchenwald
This seems to suggest that the photograph taken at Buchenwald was a spontaneous act rather than something that was pre-planned.
Most people will find the photograph offensive but not everybody. According to recent research, more than 2.6 million Brits think the Holocaust is a myth, that's 5% of the adult population of Britain. See also: The world is full of Holocaust deniers.
Prosecutors said Mr Jones and Miss Cutter both made comments in February 2017 in an online chat room called Triple K Mafia, an alias for National Action, created by former N.A. member Alex Deakin.
This was one of the few pieces of evidence presented to the court that was directly related to the charge of being a member of N.A. after it was banned.
The comments made in the online chat room related to buying an original wedding edition of Mein Kampf from the United States. The special edition of Hitler's autobiography was given to Nazi party members as a wedding gift.
This was one of the few pieces of evidence presented to the court that was directly related to the charge of being a member of N.A. after it was banned.
The comments made in the online chat room related to buying an original wedding edition of Mein Kampf from the United States. The special edition of Hitler's autobiography was given to Nazi party members as a wedding gift.
This was two months after National Action was banned. As of yet, Triple K Mafia has not been proscribed even though it would be easy to proscribe it since under section 3(6)(a) of the Terrorism Act (2000), a Home Secretary is permitted to specify certain names as being synonyms for a previously proscribed organization.
Police also found a swastika covered shawl of recent manufacture described as a "pagan religious" item, given to her by a friend when she visited Lithuania. A pair of swastika themed earrings were also found which she bought from a "pagan" shop in the Lithuanian capital of Vilnius. None of these items are in any way illegal. In fact, swastika designed jewellery can be purchased from Amazon UK.
Asked about an image of her holding a replica of what appeared to be an assault rifle, she said she posed with it because it made a "cool pic".
Garry Jack, 23, likened the right-wing ideology of National Action to views held by Donald Trump and the Labour Party.
He claimed the US President’s description of African countries as “s**tholes” and Mexicans as “rapists” were proof these opinions were not unique to the banned group.
He also pointed to allegations of anti-Semitism made against Jeremy Corbyn and the Labour Party, and asked police if Mr Corbyn should also be regarded as a terrorist.
Garry Jack told the court his right-wing views developed when he was robbed after getting off a bus in Birmingham in December 2015.
Prosecutors claimed that an email sent to Garry Jack and Connor Scothern showed they were members of National Action in September 2017 - nine months after the organisation was outlawed. The email, sent by a former N.A. member, urged them to "throw away or burn any memorabilia" following counter-terror raids.
This email hardly proves that they were still members. It could be interpreted as a loss of faith in the British justice system where former N.A. members fear being stitched up by the authorities in order to get a conviction, even though they have done nothing wrong.
After a trial lasting eleven weeks, the jury of six men and five women were unable to reach a verdict after 37 hours of deliberations.
Prosecution barrister Barnaby Jameson QC told the judge that a retrial would be sought.
Further Reading:
Terrorism Act 2000
