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Jailed

Abuse and threatening behaviour at the EDL Walsall demo

By
July 29, 2013
community order, EDL, English Defence League, Jailed, Public order offence, threatening behaviour

Jack Beasley

An English Defence League supporter who shouted abuse and used threatening behaviour during a demonstration in Walsall – has been handed a criminal anti-social behaviour order after narrowly avoiding a jail term due to health problems.

Jack Beasley travelled from Durham to take part in the protest which brought Walsall town centre to a standstill on September 29 last year, Walsall Magistrates Court heard yesterday.

Trouble flared, in Leicester Street, during the rally.

Miss Jo Taylor, prosecuting, said: “By the time the afternoon approached things were clearly getting out of hand.”

She said Beasley had been wearing a black EDL top and was identified on CCTV raising his arms and chanting.

She said other people around him were throwing ‘missiles’ at police and Beasley looked as though he had picked up some items and was making a throwing action in various photos.

He denied throwing any objects.

Miss Taylor told the court: “As you can see from some photos, he is on the frontline behaving in an aggressive manner, chanting at police.”

Beasley, aged 23, of Cedar Road, Bishop Auckland, initially denied using threatening words or behaviour with the intent to cause fear or provoke unlawful violence.

But he changed his plea to guilty on the day of his trial.

Sentencing Beasley, District Judge Michael Morris said: “It is clear you have hatred for certain members of the community. Whether you are going to change your ways or not, I do not know.

“You were picking up items which could be used to throw at police or demonstrators.”

He said the offence would usual carry a prison sentence but was prepared to suspend the jail term because Beasley had health problems.

Beasley was sentenced to 12 weeks in jail, suspended for 12 months, and was handed a community order with a supervision requirement.

He was ordered to carry out 100 hours unpaid work, pay £250 costs and was handed a three-year criminal anti-social behaviour order which forbids him from attending any rally by the EDL or Unite Against Fascism.

It also prevents him from displaying any banner or placard with writing or a logo which is likely to cause harassment, alarm or distress to any other person.

A number of protesters and police officers were treated for minor cuts and bruises after angry scenes unfolded last September.

Express and Star

EDL Northampton division admin admits cruelty to seven ponies seized by the RSPCA.

By
July 28, 2013
Animal Cruelty, EDL, English Defence League, Jailed

Paul FlowersPaul Flowers Horse

Paul Flowers, an EDL Northampton division admin, was sentenced to 16 weeks in prison and banned from keeping animals after admitting cruelty to seven ponies seized by the RSPCA.

Welfare officers found the starving animals in a field in Blisworth.

Some had ground down their tooth enamel trying to get the last blades of grass from the field in Station Road. Because the couple, who are both unemployed, refused to hand ownership of the animals to the charity, the ponies had to be kept at a boarding house which cost the RSPCA £18,000 in fees.

The ponies have now been rehomed.

BBC News

Go directly to jail!

By
July 26, 2013
EDL, English Defence League, Jailed, robbery
Moorhouse posing with Tommy Robinson

Moorhouse posing with Tommy Robinson

In a speedy case highlighted by South Yorkshire police, Errol Brown, 23, and Mark Luke Moorhouse, 25, both from Norfolk Park, were jailed for five years each just two months after robbing a city centre off licence.

One of them lunged over the counter and grabbed money from the till while the other attacked a member of staff in the shop.

Det Chief Insp Richard Fewkes, who is leading Operation Impact, said: “I am very happy with the process that has seen these criminals brought to justice in a very short space of time.

Sheffield Star

EDL Leader Lennon Jailed For Passport Offence

By
July 23, 2013
EDL, English Defence League, Jailed, Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, Tommy Robinson

Stephen Lennon admits using a passport in the name of Andrew McMaster to board a Virgin Atlantic Flight from Heathrow to New York

The leader of the English Defence League has been jailed for 10 months for using someone else’s passport to get into the United States.

Stephen Lennon, 30, pleaded guilty to possession of a false identity document with improper intention, contrary to the Identity Documents Act 2010, at Southwark Crown Court.

Lennon used a passport in the name of Andrew McMaster to board a Virgin Atlantic Flight from Heathrow to New York, but was caught out after his fingerprints were taken by customs officials.

The court heard that Lennon, who had previously been refused entry to the US, used his friend’s passport to travel to the country in September.

He used a self check-in kiosk to board the Virgin Atlantic flight at Heathrow, and was allowed through when the document was checked in the bag drop area.

But when he arrived at New York’s JFK Airport, customs officials who took his fingerprints realised he was not Mr McMaster.

Lennon was asked to attend a second interview but left the airport, entering the US illegally.

He stayed just one night and travelled back to the UK the following day using his own legitimate passport – which bears the name Paul Harris.

The court heard that is the name that appears on the EDL leader’s passport, although he uses aliases.

The court heard that he was previously jailed for assault in 2005 and also has previous convictions for drugs offences and public order offences.

Sentencing the 30-year-old, Judge Alistair McCreath, told him: “I am going to sentence you under the name of Stephen Lennon, although I suspect that is not actually your true name, in the sense that it is not the name that appears on your passport.

“What you did went absolutely to the heart of the immigration controls that the United States are entitled to have.

“Had it been known in this country that you were proposing to leave under a false passport, you would not have been accepted on to the plane and you would not have been permitted to leave this country on a false passport.

“It’s not in any sense trivial.”


Sky News

EDL Leadership bodyguard jailed in apparently racist killing

By
July 23, 2013
affray, conspiracy to pervert the course of justice, death by dangerous driving, Jailed, Racial Conviction, Racist Abuse, violent disorder

Andrew Currien
Andrew Currien, a key member of the EDL leadership bodyguard team from Lanesfield near Wolverhampton, was one of six men convicted in 2009 after a 59 year old man was crushed to death by a car following a violent brawl in an apparently racist killing. He was jailed for 18 months after admitting affray.

Express & Star

Hope Not Hate

 

 

Hotelier at centre of drug syndicate

By
July 22, 2013
Drugs, Jailed

steven tyminski

A HOTELIER at the centre of a drug syndicate is today waking up behind bars.

Steven Tyminski allowed Class A drugs to be stored in bedrooms in the Paris Hotel on Lord Street.

Preston Crown Court heard how the 57-year-old, of Springfield Road, Blackpool, led a hedonistic lifestyle, supplying friends and associates with drugs.

Police raided the 17-bedroom premises in February 2009 while there were no paying guests staying.

Two men were found in different rooms and officers recovered quantities of cocaine, Ecstasy and ketamine.

Russell Davies, prosecuting, said: “The syndicate clubbed together to buy in bulk as it was cheaper.

“There was a denial of supplying outside the syndicate.”

Tyminski was said to have committed further offences while on bail. In August of that year police stopped his car as he drove on Park Road, Blackpool.

A passenger was found to have a small bag of cocaine when stopped.

Tyminski’s home was then searched and he admitted spending between £200 and £300 a week on drugs.

Then in January last year Tyminski drove off at speed when police saw him driving in Church Street. He went on to be detained and cocaine was found under the passenger seat.

His barrister Chris Hudson said the hotel had effectively been moribund at the time.

People with similar interests would go to the premises and share drugs.

The court was told what Tyminski did was on a non profit basis.

Mr Hudson said: “My client is adamant there was no financial return to this. It was only social supply to friends and associates.

“The defendant’s employers had earlier moved him to Blackpool, by way of promotion.

“He got into the wrong circle of friends and began increasing his drug abuse. He was involved in a hedonistic and illegal lifestyle.

“He had money and contacts. He obtained the drugs which friends and associates used to enhance their desired lifestyle.”

Tyminski had admitted 10 charges relating to supplying, possession and possession with intent to supply drugs.

He was jailed for three years.

Passing sentence, Judge Christopher Cornwall told Tyminski: “My strong impression is that pretty well anyone who either shared a taste for cocaine, who wanted to be admitted to the syndicate, would be readily admitted.

“It differs from where three to four close friends club together to buy drugs for their own use.

“Cocaine is an extremely dangerous drug.”

A general assistant in the Paris Hotel also admitted one charge of possessing drugs with intent to supply and four of simple possession.

Gary Cornish, 28, of Central Drive, Blackpool, was given 12 months’ jail, suspended for eighteen months, with eighteen months’ supervision and a hundred and fifty hours of unpaid work.

His barrister said he had been a heavy drug user who dealt for around a three-week period.

A third defendant, 20-year-old Liam Wood, of General Street, central Blackpool, had his sentence deferred for six months.

He had admitted possessing cocaine with intent to supply.

He was said to have been looking after drugs for a short period, before returning them to their owner.

Blackpool Gazette

Hooligans sentenced after football rivals clash in city

By
July 22, 2013
affray, community order, football, Jailed, Public order offence

AN anti-paedophile campaigner has been jailed for throwing punches and kicks in a violent clash between football supporters in the city centre.

Christopher Wittwer was one of seven men sentenced at Exeter Crown Court yesterday after the group of hooligans went after Huddersfield Town supporters in May last year.

Wittwer, who set up a controversial anti-paedophile website naming convicted child sex offenders last summer, was jailed for 10 months.

Violence flared while the High Street was full of shoppers, including parents who had to shield their toddler in a push chair.

Wittwer, 35, of Oakmead, Aylesbeare; Darren Bolt, 24, of Salisbury Road, Exmouth; Neil Vooght, 35, of Hazelwood Park, Dawlish, and Neil Cartwright, 37, of Lapwing Close, Cullompton, all admitted affray.

Bolt, Vooght and Cartwright were also jailed for 10 months but the term was suspended for two years.

They were ordered to carry out 220 hours of unpaid work each.

Brendan Daniel, 24, of Leypark Road, Exeter; Mark Langdon, 20, of Austin Close, Exeter, and Joseph Foxworthy, 25, of Old Vicarage Road, Exeter, admitted public order offences. They were due to be given community orders with unpaid work.

Prosecutor Richard Crabb told the court the group were “looking for a violent confrontation” on May 8, last year, the day of a home game between Exeter City and Huddersfield Town.

He said a group of Huddersfield fans had been having a “quiet drink” in The Ship Inn, but most had left.

At 2pm, a group of 25 Exeter supporters gathered outside the pub shouting and swearing.

Some went inside but on realising the rivals had left walked up the High Street where they found a group of four Huddersfield fans.

Wittwer and Vooght were aiming punches and kicks at the rivals. They also chased them down the road. Bolt was seen throwing punches and Cartwright kicking out.

Mr Crabb said: “Members of the public were moving out of the way and some were protecting a toddler in a push chair.”

When police arrived the group fled but these defendants were identified.

Mr Crabb said the violence was “nipped in the bud by the prompt arrival of police” but had the potential to be much worse. The incident was clearly caught on CCTV.

Wittwer previously received a banning order for three years for threatening an Aldershot Town supporter in Sidwell Street, in 2004. He breached the order twice and was also convicted of an affray in a nightclub, in 2007.

The court was told that Vooght, Bolt and Daniel had no previous convictions.

Cartwright and Foxworthy both have two dissimilar previous convictions and Langdon has two public order offences on his record, from 2009.

Stephen Nunn, mitigating for Wittwer, said he admitted his guilt straight away and wanted to be sentenced back in February. He told the court that Wittwer, who has an ex-wife and child who live abroad, rarely goes out now and has not offended since the incident.

He conceded that he “had the disadvantage of having two things on his record that put him in a difficult situation.”

Mitigating for Vooght, Nigel Wraith said the offence was “completely out of character”.

For Bolt, Cartwright, Daniel, Foxworthy and Langdon, Kevin Hopper said they should get credit for their guilty pleas.

Judge Phillip Wassall told Wittwer he had a “dreadful record for football-related violence.”

They were all given football banning orders preventing them from attending games for six years.

This is Plymouth

The BNP past of the EDL leader

By
July 22, 2013
actual bodily harm, BNP, Drugs, EDL, English Defence League, Jailed, Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, Tommy Robinson

Searchlight can exclusively reveal that the leader of the English Defence League is a former British National Party member who has served 12 months’ imprisonment for assaulting an off-duty police officer.

Tommy Robinson in Newcastle Searchlight can exclusively reveal that the leader of the English Defence League is a former British National Party member who has served 12 months’ imprisonment for assaulting an off-duty police officer.

Self-proclaimed EDL leader Tommy Robinson is really Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, from Bedford.

In 2004 he joined the BNP with a family membership. In the same year he assaulted an off-duty police officer who intervened to stop a domestic incident between Yaxley-Lennon and his partner Jenna Vowles. During the scuffle Yaxley-Lennon kicked the officer in the head.

He was convicted on 18 April 2005 for assault occasioning actual bodily harm, for which he was sentenced to 12 months’ imprisonment, and assault with intent to resist arrest, for which he received a concurrent term of three months.

Vowles, also a BNP member, was cautioned for possession of cocaine. She told the court that the she found two empty bags in her house and was taking them out so that her parents did not find them.

Yaxley-Lennon attended Putteridge High School in Luton and moved to nearby Bedford more recently. Robinson also claims on his Facebook site that he attended Putteridge school.

The revelation that Robinson had been a member of the BNP explains why so many of the initial EDL activists also attended BNP meetings in the Luton/Bedford area.

More importantly, it dispels the myth that the roots of the EDL are not in hard-core racism.

It destroys the protestations by the EDL leadership that, “They aren’t the BNP and they aren’t Nazis,” made at their phoney press conference held last September in a disused Luton warehouse, where they unfurled a swastika flag and proceeded to try to set it alight for the cameras.

It also explains the real reason why Robinson felt the need to hide his face.

Robinson’s reaction on Facebook to his exposure
Robinson’s reaction on Facebook to his exposure

Apart from his BNP membership and his convictions for violence, Robinson told a BBC film crew that he lived in a part of Luton where Islamic fanatics lived and that he feared for his safety. The reality is somewhat different as he lives in Wilstead, a relatively leafy village on the outskirts of Bedford.

The exposure of his identity follows a split in the EDL that is mostly being fought over the internet.

Paul Ray, self-styled spiritual guru of the EDL, has posted a series of messages on his Lionheart blog, in which he and his friend Nick Greger announce their intention to take control of the EDL. Ray was the original mover in creating the EDL, although he quickly fell out with the other leaders and moved abroad to Malta. Ray has focused his efforts on making Crusader-themed anti-Muslim promotional videos, and he and Greger have just issued a notice of “expulsion” of the EDL’s leaders, together with a demand for control of the EDL’s websites.

In one of their videos Greger goes on to say “another well-known man will soon appear within the new leadership, a man from Ulster, who is also currently in exile”.

The real face of the EDL leader: Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, alias Tommy Robinson

This is almost certainly a reference to Greger’s friend Johnny Adair, a prominent loyalist terrorist who now lives in Scotland following an intra-loyalist feud. Adair’s friendship with Greger was the subject of a television documentary in 2006, when Adair met Greger while in prison for plotting acts of terror and was then the head of a nazi group in Dresden, Germany.

It is thought that Ray and Greger were responsible for the appearance of a video on YouTube that unveiled Robinson as Stephen Yaxley along with a series of photographs, following outlandish claims by Ray that the EDL led by Robinson threatened to kidnap and harm members of Ray’s family.

Robinson later confirmed on his Facebook page that the photographs were indeed of him, saying, “Hey at least people can see my hansome [sic] face now”.
Note: Simon Cressy has asked that we credit the blogger Richard Bartholomew (source) for the heads up on Adair/Greiger, and apologises for inadvertently omitting this source.

Hope not Hate

EDL member jailed for Liverpool Street football brawl

By
July 22, 2013
EDL, English Defence League, football, Jailed, threatening behaviour

An English Defence League (EDL) member has been jailed for nine months after taking part in a pre-arranged brawl between football supporters in London.

Joel Titus, 19, took part in the “pitched battle” between supporters of Brentford and Leyton Orient outside Liverpool Street station in May 2010.

Titus, of Pinner, north-west London, and five other men admitted affray.

The brawl, during which people punched, kicked and threw bottles, was by “prior arrangement”, the Old Bailey heard.

Dean Wells, 22, of Isleworth, west London, was jailed for 12 months, David Mitchell, 19, of Littlehampton, West Sussex, was sentenced to seven months and Andrew Hudson, 26, of Hornchurch, Essex, was given an eight-month jail term.

Steven Donovan, 20, of Hayes, west London, and Thomas Armstrong, 24, of Woodford Green, Essex, were each given suspended six-month sentences.

‘Frightening spectacle’

Judge Timothy Pontius said all six had taken part in a “disgraceful display of violence” that terrified ordinary people using a busy railway station as bottles were thrown across the street during the fight.

The “pitched battle” must have been a “frightening spectacle”, he said, which required a “firm deterrent message”.

Titus, an A-level student, has previously been convicted of threatening behaviour for swearing at a police officer who was trying to break up a fight. He will be sentenced in May.

The incident took place while he was on bail following the football brawl, the Old Bailey heard.

He also has a previous caution for battery after hitting a journalist during a right-wing demonstration in December 2009.

The teenager is a prominent member of the EDL and has been interviewed on the BBC’s Newsnight programme speaking as the leader of the organisation’s youth division.

Henrietta Paget, for the prosecution, said Brentford-supporting hooligans had travelled to the scene after a game against Hartlepool, to meet rival Leyton Orient supporters, who were on their way back from a match at Colchester in Essex.

The court heard Hudson told police that there was “history” between the clubs dating back to the 1980s.

Titus said he went to the scene after hearing some commotion, but denied any knowledge of the brawl being prearranged.

All six were given football banning orders.

BBC News

Man jailed for terrifying attack on Thornhill Lees family

By
July 22, 2013
Burglary, Jailed, possessing an offensive weapon, Racial Conviction, Racist Abuse, threatening behaviour


A MAN who wielded knives, broke down his neighbours’ front door and threatened to kill them, has been jailed.

Leeds Crown Court heard how Daniel Smith had 167 previous convictions before he was locked up for 10 further offences today.

The 39-year-old was not present for his sentencing because he was taken back to Armley prison from the court at lunchtime after destroying two toilets in the court cells.

Smith pleaded guilty to charges of burglary, common assault, possessing an offensive weapon and making threats to kill at a hearing in May.

Today, the court heard how on August 26 last year, Smith hurled racist abuse at a family living near him in Victoria Road, Thornhill Lees.

He attacked their front door with a knife and eventually broke it down.

When inside the house, he threatened to kill the occupants before he was forced back outside.

Sentencing, Judge Guy Kearl QC, said: “They were very real threats, the victims believed, being confronted in their house by a man who they believed was going to kill them.”

Smith was sentenced to nine years in prison and given a restraining order banning him from having any contact with family or entering Victoria Road.

Dewsbury Reporter