Five jailed for race hate crimes
Five white supremacists have been jailed for a total of 15 years at the Old Bailey for creating and distributing race hate material.
The five members of the extreme right-wing Racial Volunteer Force (RVF) all pleaded guilty to race hate crimes.
A sixth man was given a suspended sentence of nine months for possessing a racially inflammatory booklet.
The court heard the group paid tribute to Soho nail bomber David Copeland with instructions on how to make a bomb.
The five jailed had all admitted conspiracy to publish the group’s magazine, Stormer, with the intention of stirring up race hate.
They are Mark Atkinson, 38, from Egham, Surrey; Nigel Piggins, 39, from Hull; Jonathan Hill, 33, from Oldham, Greater Manchester; Steven Bostock, 27, from Urmston, Greater Manchester; and Michael Denis, 30, from Tooting, south London.
‘Free country’
Kevin Quinn, 40, of Ouseland Road, Bedford, who received a suspended sentence, pleaded guilty to possessing a November 9th Society Nazi booklet, The Longest Hatred.
Judge Jeremy Roberts told the members: “No-one is being sentenced for their political beliefs – this is a free country.”
The group had formed in 2003 to “encourage readers to resort to violence against people with non-white backgrounds”, he said.
“The real danger is that it only needs to fall into the hands of one or two individuals who might be persuaded to take up the suggestions and cause a great deal of damage,” said the judge.
The organisation, which is a splinter group of the right wing Combat 18, wrote of their hatred of non-whites and articles featured anti-Jewish headlines such as Roast A Rabbi.
With a picture of a firebomb, the magazine said: “With the winter nights to shroud you in darkness we thought a few of you would like to don your disguises and rubber gloves and make things a little warmer.”
And, by the side of a swastika on the front cover, it said: “We must secure the existence of our people and a future for white children.”
Another edition featured bomb-making instructions and praise of Soho bomber David Copeland, who was jailed for life for murder after attacks targeting the gay community and ethnic minorities in London.
Peter Davies, assistant chief constable of Lincolnshire, said: “It is difficult to imagine more extreme race hatred than was contained in the material which was seized during this meticulous inquiry.”
The case showed that anyone “inclined to stir up racial hatred” would be “tracked down”, he added.
Atkinson was jailed for five years for Stormer and 12 months concurrently for operating the RVF website.
Bostock was jailed for two years and three months for Stormer and a further three months for the website.
Piggins was jailed for two years and three months for Stormer and a further three months for distributing a racist DVD, Skrewdriver Live in Germany.
Hill was jailed for four years and Denis for a year, both for Stormer.
Atkinson’s girlfriend, Elizabeth Hunt, 36, of Dawson Avenue, Southport, Merseyside, was discharged after the prosecution offered no evidence.
From 2005
Far-Right Criminals 