Colin Webster, 61, reposted the footage by National Action – proscribed as a terrorist organisation by the UK Government.

Colin Webster was convicted after trial of the terror-related charge.

A Fife man who shared a Neo-Nazi group’s propaganda video online has been convicted of distributing a terrorist publication.

Colin Webster, 61, reposted the footage by National Action (NA) – proscribed as a terrorist organisation by the UK Government – in December 2021 on social media website GAB and on Twitter.

A trial at Dunfermline Sheriff Court heard he had a combined 457 followers on the sites.

The video shows people at a demonstration in Darlington in 2016, dressed in black and carrying flags bearing the National Action logo.

Webster was prosecuted under the Terrorism Acts of 2000 and 2006.

Racist slurs on video

The trial heard Webster was interviewed by counter-terrorism detectives after his home was searched and his mobile phone seized.

Webster told police he did not realise he could not repost the video.

He said he had heard of National Action on the news and was told about their leaders being jailed.

The film in question, shown in court, included historic war footage and racist language used by a man on a megaphone.

The speaker shouts “this used to be a white country – white men, white women, white children, white families, white culture, white values” and if someone did not fit that profile 50 years ago they “did not exist here”.

Other statements include “where is the resistance?” and “why isn’t anyone trying to stop it?”

Part of the clip contains an antisemitic slur that: “The Briton has been trampled underfoot by hook-nosed bankers”.

In her closing submissions, prosecutor Nhabeela Rahmatullah highlighted a call to action at the end of the video and the phrase “we cannot do it alone”.

Legal debate

Sheriff Susan Duff found Webster guilty of distributing or circulating terrorist publications of a proscribed organisation on social media website GAB on December 1 2021.

The charge says he intended the effect to be direct or indirect encouragement or other inducement to the commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism, or the provision of assistance in the commission or preparation of such acts, or that he was reckless as to whether his conduct had this effect.

Defence lawyer Pete Robertson had argued there would need to be a finding of fact that a reasonable person would view the video as a terrorist publication beyond reasonable doubt.

He said it was an “abhorrent, racist video” but makes no mention of what it is asking people to do.

The solicitor said examples (of terrorist publications) might be videos glorifying beheading or about how to make bombs.

He said it would be speculative to infer from language such as “where is the resistance?” that this was a call for terrorist action.

The lawyer said the only reference to violence in the clip was pictures of the First World War.

Mr Robertson said a reasonable person would not know NA was a proscribed organisation and argued his client did not endorse any of the conduct in the video as it was a repost without any comment.

‘Endorsement’ proved

Sheriff Duff pointed out Webster accepted distributing the 105-second video and knew at the time NA was a proscribed organisation because he “got ‘telt their leaders were jailed”.

The sheriff highlighted statements made in the video and said they meet the reasonable person test in law and that it is a terrorist publication.

Sheriff Duff said Webster’s response to being asked by police what he hoped to achieve by posting it was: “Nothing – just people that follow me are maybe wanting to see it”.

The sheriff said: “That’s endorsement”.

Sentencing on first offender Webster, of Station Road, Kelty, was deferred to December 18 to obtain background reports.

‘Virulently racist, antisemitic, homophobic’

The UK Government describes National Action as a racist neo-Nazi group established in 2013.

It says the group is “virulently racist, antisemitic and homophobic” with an ideology that Britain will inevitably see a violent “race war”, of which the group claims it will be an active part.

Members of the group celebrated the actions of murderer and neo-Nazi Thomas Mair, who killed MP Jo Cox in June 2016.

The organisation was proscribed in December 2016 – the first extreme right wing group to be banned in the UK.

Its co-founder, Alex Davies, 28, was jailed for eight-and-a-half years in June 2022 for being a member.

At the time, the Crown Prosecution Service called his organisation: “A small and secretive right-wing group which espoused hateful violent rhetoric.

The Courier

Nathan Worrell – who went to prison for terrorism offences in 2008 and 2019 – has been jailed for a further six years for breaching rules around his mobile phone

A Grimsby far-right extremist who was jailed for terrorism offences has been jailed for a further six years for breaching rules around the use of his mobile phone.

Nathan Worrell, 50, appeared at Sheffield Crown Court on Friday, where he was sentenced to six years imprisonment and one year on licence.

He was arrested and charged with breaching his notification requirements in December last year after he failed to disclose his use of a phone, sim card and email addresses to police.

In July, he pleaded guilty to five breaches of his notification requirements and two charges of possessing racially inflammatory material intended or likely to stir up racial hatred.

Back in 2019, Worrell was jailed for two years and six months for spreading neo-Nazi material around Grimsby and Hull.

As previously reported by Grimsby Live, Worrell’s home in Scott Close, Willows, was raided by police, who discovered far-right images of Adolf Hitler, the Nazis and the Ku Klux Klan. Shirts and boxer shorts bearing Nazi swastikas and emblems were also found.

Eleven years previously, he was sentenced to seven years and three months for possession of material for terrorist purposes and racially aggravated harassment.

Head of Counter Terrorism Policing North East, Detective Chief Superintendent Jim Dunkerley, said: “Those subject to notification requirements are stringently monitored. Breaches of any kind are taken very seriously and will be prosecuted.

“Worrell knew the risks of failing to adhere to his notification requirements. Despite this, he believed he could withhold information from our officers. His attempt to do so was quickly identified and ultimately resulted in his return to prison.”

Grimsby Telegraph

James Costello was worldwide leader of group which had ‘army of fanatics capable of deadly violence’

A delivery driver lived a double life as the worldwide leader of a racist church which called for a “holy race war”.

James Costello was identified as the self-styled “high priest” of the Creativity Movement, which “unashamedly promoted white supremacy and neo-Nazi ideology” and boasted an army of “fanatics capable of very serious and deadly violence”. The city’s top judge today described him as an “enthusiastic evangelist” for the group’s propaganda, which he distributed online and was “dripping with hate”.

A trial at Liverpool Crown Court heard that the 38-year-old, of Old Rough Lane in Kirkby, posted written materials and audiobooks, which he personally narrated, for download on creativitymovement.net – a website which he “controlled and managed”. Hal Watson, prosecuting, described how his propaganda “called for the subjugation and elimination of non-white persons and the establishment of a white master race”.

He told jurors: “This is a call to arms and it is disturbing and distressing, and you may find that much of what you see and hear has absolutely no place in modern society. It is, put bluntly, awful and frightening and intended to disturb and disrupt our society.”

Much of the content of these materials cannot be repeated due to its highly offensive nature. But the ECHO can reveal that contained within the numerous documents spread by Costello were abhorrent references to Jewish people and people of colour.

The e-books and audio files sought a “racial holy war”. One – entitled RAHOWA, an abbreviation of “racial holy war” – stated that “RAHOWA is inevitable” and “the ultimate and only solution”.

Police raided Costello’s home in August 2021 after receiving numerous complaints when stickers “promoting” the group’s activities were left in public places around Merseyside over the previous months. They seized flags and banners bearing its messages from his house after linking him to the website’s IP address.

Officers also found a roll of stickers matching those posted on lampposts in the area bearing the domain, which has since been taken down, as well as others containing an email address connected to the defendant. Their search uncovered Creativity Movement “postcards” and leaflets with titles such as “Mobilize Nature’s Finest” and “Become a White Racial Loyalist”.

The seized materials contained “imagery with strong Nazist and white supremacist overtones”, all in the colours of red, white and black to “replicate Nazi imagery”. Costello meanwhile stated in his evidence from the witness box that he had been the “worldwide leader of the Creativity Movement” since at least 2017.

Detectives also found a “ministerial certificate”, ordaining him into a role with the aim of “spreading the word and recruiting persons to the church”, within his property. He was referred to as both “Reverend Costello” and “Pontifex Maximus”, or high priest, of the organisation – which was previously known as the World Church of the Creator and was founded in the USA in the 1970s.

Costello has no previous convictions, but was ordered to serve 300 hours of community service after going absent without leave between September 2006 and March 2012 while serving in the army. Dr Christopher Wood, defending, told the court this afternoon, Thursday, that his client worked for his brother as a warehouse operative and delivery driver and was also a “supporter of his local boxing club”.

He added: “The defendant’s education was significantly impaired. He left school at 13 with no qualifications whatsoever, primary due to an unstable lifestyle with issues around his mother’s alcohol and gambling addictions.

“From the age of 19, he joined the army. He was there for approximately two years until he went AWOL due to suffering a back injury.

“He did not return. However his absence was not missed by the army, and there were no concerns over his absence for five years until he was going on holiday to Tenerife and the army stopped him at the airport.

“He felt he was becoming a burden to them. With a heavy heart, he left for that reason.

“He has never been subject to a custodial setting. This will be of considerable concern to him.

“The defendant genuinely believed that what he was doing was lawful in expressing opinions and views that he had, but he accepts and take on board fully the jury’s verdicts and that what he was doing was not lawful. He is regretful of that.

“He does not want anyone to face abuse through their race. He said ‘I regret and apologise if my actions have caused any hurt to anyone’.

“Aged 13, the defendant ended up working for his father. He became exposed to extremist views, and clearly those have set in and stayed.

“The defendant is a family man and a hard worker. He can hopefully make amends.”

Costello was found guilty of 19 counts of stirring up racial hatred by publishing materials. He was jailed for five years.

Sentencing, the Honorary Recorder of Liverpool Judge Andrew Menary KC said: “You have been convicted by the jury on overwhelming evidence of 19 offences involving the possession, publication and distribution of abusive and insulting material, intending to stir up racial hatred. I have no doubt that that was precisely your intention.

“This was a website unashamedly promoting white supremacy and neo-Nazi ideology. Creativity and the newer incarnation, the Creativity Movement, originated in the United States, and has been in existence for a number of years, since the early 1970s.

“In your evidence, you confirmed that, from 2017 at the very latest, you have been the leader of the Creativity Movement, not just in the UK but worldwide. Quite how big this movement is here or abroad is impossible to say, but sadly recent events – particularly in London – demonstrate that there is a worrying appetite for the sort of material that you were making available.

“It is not an offence to hold these views, however ridiculous they might be, or to seek to promote them in a temperate way, but that is not what you were doing. You were an enthusiastic evangelist for this material, every page of which was dripping with hate.

“The texts do not simply promote white supremacy – entirely gratuitously, they contain outrageously offensive language that would shock and appal any right-thinking person. The ultimate aim, as set out frequently, was the destruction of the Jewish race and all people of colour, achieved by means of a racial holy war.

“It may be that you did not write these words yourself or much of the other material, but this message was never disavowed by you. On the contrary, it was promoted actively by your efforts to make the website and its contents known widely, using marketing materials such as stickers, flags and banners.

“It may be that you yourself would not have used violence or directly discriminated against your perceived enemies, but the mischief of these offences is not confined to causing deep offence. It is the racial hatred that is stirred up and the direct action that is taken by extremists as a consequence.

“This is not an idle, unrealistic fear. The history of the Creativity Movement shows that its fanatics are capable of very serious and deadly violence.

“Hate crimes like this have a tendency to undermine communities and societies – making people feel like they do not belong, making communities fearful and untrusting of others. You say that, as a result of these proceedings, you realise that the material on the website was abusive and might cause hurt, something you did not intend and something you regret.

“Frankly, I doubt that very much. The highly racist and anti-semitic nature of the material you wanted the world to see and embrace was blindingly obvious.”

Liverpool Echo

An ex-soldier who admired Adolf Hitler and planned to burn down a left-wing bookshop has been found guilty of preparing a terrorist act.

A court heard William Howitt, 27, wrote a detailed guide on his phone to carry out the arson attack on the Five Leaves Bookshop in Nottingham.

The plan included painting a swastika and “white lives matter” on the wall.

He was remanded in custody for sentencing at Birmingham Crown Court on 14 December.

The court heard the guide for burning down the bookshop was written on 7 September 2020.

It referenced smashing the windows of the bookshop and dousing books and upholstery with petrol.

On the same day, Howitt bought a hammer to break glass and tarpaulin – both items mentioned in the plan.

On 5 January, Howitt, of West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, was stopped at East Midlands Airport.

Counter-terrorism police found the plan on his phone along with other antisemitic, anti-communist and pro-Nazi messages, videos and photographs.

Analysis of his phone data found Howitt had researched the bookshop and took screenshots of the interior and exterior.

He had looked up white nationalist groups, bought an Adolf Hitler T-shirt and exchanged homophobic, transphobic and antisemitic messages with other people.

Police found Howitt had also asked a contact for a firearm for a “politically driven” act.

‘He was angry’

Giving evidence earlier this month, Howitt, who became a crane operator after leaving the Army, denied having racist views.

He said he had issues with his mental health and would say things he did not mean when abusing cocaine and alcohol.

Prosecutor Emma Gargitter said: “He was someone who held entrenched racist, white supremacist, far right views.

“Whilst drink might have given him the confidence to express those views more freely than when he was sober, they didn’t only arise when he drank.

“He was angry, increasingly so over the summer of 2020 and into 2021.

“His plan was fuelled by those views and by that anger.”

BBC News

A far-right YouTube activist live streamed a “racist and misogynistic” foul-mouthed rant aimed at a Jewish anti-hate campaigner who was left “humiliated and scared”.

Alan Leggett, known as Active Patriot to his social media followers, targeted Ambrosine Chetrit in an 18-minute video he posted online while in Dover in September 2020 protesting about the migrant crossings.

Canterbury Crown Court heard today that just over a minute into the footage he turned his attention to Ms Chetrit, subjecting her to an outpouring of expletives and highly derogatory remarks.

These included branding her a “dirty little s**g” and “a Nazi c********r”.

Ms Chetrit, said to be involved at the time in an organisation that “identified and challenged” people who posted anti-semitic views on the Internet, later told police that Leggett’s abusive tirade was both an attack on her and the Jewish race.

Leggett, 44, initially denied a charge of sending a letter, communication or article conveying an indecent or offensive message with racist or religious aggravation but then pleaded guilty while awaiting trial.

As he sat in the dock for his sentencing wearing two poppies, he was told by Judge Simon Taylor KC that he was a racist who held deeply entrenched views that were “far from patriotic”.

He even questioned “what side of the line” he would have taken during the recent demonstrations in London.

Leggett had himself posted on the X platform – formerly known as Twitter – four hours ahead of his court appearance, telling his 100,000 followers: “Today is judgment day, I have been told to prepare for the worst which is 12 months in jail.

“I have been on strict bail conditions for over three years not to speak about the case, after 12.30 today all will become clear.

“I apologise to everyone I have let down, I don’t know what else to say other than drop me a line.”

Prosecutor Bridget Todd told the court Ms Chetrit was alerted by a friend to the live feed on September 22, 2020, on an online forum called Telegram.

She was already aware he called himself Active Patriot and posted clips on YouTube often about his views on immigration and migrants arriving in Dover, added Ms Todd.

But Ms Chetrit was horrified when, just one minute and 20 seconds into the video, Leggett began to abuse her.

“She said she felt humiliated, scared and offended by these comments. She was embarrassed and that it was not just an attack on her for being Jewish but also the use of the derogatory terms were to intimidate her,” Ms Todd said.

“She also felt it attacked the entire Jewish community.”

Leggett, who lives alone at his home in Brereton Avenue, Cleethorpes, and is on benefits, was arrested and interviewed.

“He stated he was making a joke and she had taken it out of context,” continued the prosecutor. “He said the complainant had attacked him online.

“When asked specifically about how he thought his comments would have made her feel, he simply replied ‘No comment’.”

The court heard Leggett has 18 previous convictions for 56 offences, including two for racially or religiously aggravated public order offences in 2015 and earlier this year.

He was also said to suffer from a number of health conditions including PTSD, anxiety and depression.

Tom Stern, defending, said at the time of the video Leggett was reporting on “the shortcomings in the system in terms of intercepting boats” coming across the Channel.

“This wasn’t a live stream set up with the purpose of abusing the complainant. It appears to have been a spontaneous reaction to comments,” he told the court, adding that his client had now “squarely acknowledged” his own shortcomings and was both remorseful and regretful.

But the judge interjected, branding Leggett a racist and, in doing so, attracting gasps from several of Leggett’s supporters sitting in the public gallery.

“It does seem I’m dealing with a racist here. That’s the reality. There’s a conviction in 2015, there’s a conviction this year, and then this offence which is racially and religiously motivated and misogynistic,” remarked Judge Taylor.

“This is someone who seems to me to deep down harbour racist beliefs. One wonders what side of the line he would have been at the weekend.

“I find it difficult that someone who describes themselves as a patriot and cares about the country can use phrases such as someone is ‘a dirty little s**g that sleeps with f****** Nazis’.

“I cannot reconcile that with someone being at Dover to try and improve society. What we are dealing with here is someone with fundamentally racist tendencies.”

Judge Taylor said however that he could spare him an immediate prison sentence in light of the three-year delay in legal proceedings and the fact he had an “identifiable problem” that the probation service could work with.

He added that he was also “slightly more impressed” by the references handed to the court on his behalf, in particular highlighting the work Leggett does to help homeless veterans.

Imposing a 10-month jail term suspended for two years, with a six-month tagged curfew between 8pm and 3am, 150 hours of unpaid work, and 15 rehabilitation activity requirements, the judge told Leggett this was an opportunity to put his “negative and criminal tendencies” behind him.

“You humiliated and caused pain to your victim. I don’t see anything patriotic in that. What I see is disgraceful conduct, not only racist and misogynistic but also cowardly and it undermines British values and British society – things you claim to hold dear,” he said.

“There is nothing to be proud of in your conduct.”

Leggett was also handed a 15-year restraining order in respect of Ms Chetrit and ordered to pay £250 towards the prosecution costs.

On X, Leggett describes himself as a “citizen journalist reporting on the illegal invasion of the UK #MigrantHunter We should house our homeless first. #StopTheBoats Groom dogs not children”.

Updating his account post-sentencing he included a photo of himself outside the court and thanked those who had supported him, vowed to continue his activities, and acknowledged he had been called racist.

He wrote: “I’ve been sentenced today for a malicious communication from over three years ago over a YouTube live video in Dover.

“10-month prison suspended for 2 years, 15-year restraint order, 150 hours community service over 12 months, tagging 6 months 8pm -3am, 15 days probation appointment days, £250 costs paid within 12 months and a surcharge £156.

“Thank you everyone for your support reading your messages this morning gave me hope. Big shout out to everyone who came to court to support me I love and respect you all.

“Thank you for the references received from PTSD Camp Bath PAG UK ‘Parents Against Grooming uk’ Veteran Nobby 2 nurses that have been helping me with the homeless outreach.

“Your kind words touched my heart. And to everyone DON’T think for one minute this will stop me, we live to FIGHT another day.

“Also the judge made a comment that he knows what side I would have been on at the weekend and that I’m a racist”

Kent Online

A teenage right-wing supremacist has been sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment after he was convicted of planning to disguise himself as an armed police officer and kill Muslims worshipping at nearby mosques.

Joe Metcalfe, 17, researched how to carry out the attack in imitation of the mass shootings in Christchurch New Zealand in 2019 and Buffalo in 2022.

He was arrested on June 21 2022 and charged seven days later.

He was sentenced at Leeds Crown Court today to a prison term of 10 years with an extended licence period of six years after being found guilty after trial of preparing to commit an act of terrorism, having already pleaded guilty to encouraging others to commit terrorism, disseminating terrorist publications, and possessing a bladed article. He has already served 500 days in custody.

He was also sentenced today following a separate trial for charges of multiple rape, and coercive / controlling behaviour against a teenage girl.

Nick Price, head of the CPS Special Crime and Counter Terrorism Division, said: “Although he spent time watching and sharing violent, racist, homophobic and antisemitic videos, these were not idle fantasies. He made a detailed plan to murder Muslims at a nearby mosque while disguised as an armed police officer, record the killings and escape.

“He stole his father’s car to carry out a reconnaissance mission, contacted a gun seller to try and secretly ship a weapon to the UK, and but for apprehension intended to carry out the attack.

“Despite his young age his beliefs and willingness to take violent action to propagate them are a threat to our society, and it is right that he has been sentenced today for those crimes.”

The CPS worked closely with Counter Terrorism Policing North-East, whose officers investigated the case before the CPS authorised charges and brought the prosecution.

Detective Chief Superintendent James Dunkerley, Head of Counter Terrorism Policing North- East, said: “We are satisfied that this individual acted in isolation and our quick response prevented this escalating further.

“We have successfully worked alongside partners to ensure that this individual has been brought to justice.

“I hope this provides yet another example of how robustly we will deal with this type of behaviour and these actions. It will not be tolerated.”
Notes to editors

Joe Metcalfe [25/09/2006] of Bradford was found guilty after trial of preparing to commit an act of terrorism on or before 21 June 2022.
He admitted:
4 x disseminating a terrorist publication on dates between March 2022 and June 2022 Possession of a bladed article
Encouragement of terrorism
He was also sentenced for separate charges of multiple rape, and coercive controlling behaviour which he was found guilty of at trial.
Each of the sentences will run concurrently.
The Court lifted his anonymity today as it sentenced him.

CPS

A “deeply entrenched racist” A-level student, who shared weapons manuals and terrorism documents, has been detained for seven years.

Malakai Wheeler, 18, of Stamford Close, Swindon, was found guilty of six charges by a jury in September, including possessing a copy of the Terrorist Handbook.

At Winchester Crown Court, Judge Jane Miller KC handed him a seven-year term.

She told Wheeler he was “cold and calculating” and a “white supremacist”.

Mass-murderer manifestos

The other charges included possessing copies of the Anarchist’s Handbook, a document called Homemade Detonators, and sharing 92 documents and 35 images in a chatroom.

He was also convicted of two charges of sharing instructions for the use of items that could be used to perform acts of terrorism, including smoke grenades.

The cache included manifestos by Norwegian mass-murderer Anders Breivik and the Christchurch, New Zealand, mosque killer Brenton Tarrant.

Judge Miller KC described Wheeler, who was 16 at the time of his arrest, as a “white supremacist with an extreme right-wing mindset with a sinister interest in violence and insurrection”.

“I find you intended to encourage others to engage in terrorist activity,” she added.

The judge told the court Wheeler had been brought up by his “antisemitic” and “holocaust denier” father and was given a copy of Hitler’s Mein Kampf as a child, which he began reading at the age of 10 or 11.

She also said he was involved in discussions about a violent insurrection on internet forums and 100 videos were found on his phone, which included shootings, lynchings and executions.

When giving evidence, Wheeler, who had an interest in national socialism and anti-Zionism, admitted using a Nazi swastika as part of his profile image on social media platform Telegram and said he downloaded the terrorism documents because he wanted to create an archive of items he believed would be deleted from the site and the internet.

Wheeler said he viewed terrorist and other violent videos out of “morbid curiosity” and while he accepted being photographed in a skull mask doing a Nazi salute, he denied being a white supremacist.

‘Danger to the public’

Defending Wheeler, Abigail Bright said the teenager had a “lack of maturity” and had shown signs of a “really serious prospect of an early rehabilitation”.

“The defendant had a reckless rather than any other state of mind,” she added.

Det Ch Supt James Dunkerley, head of counter terrorism policing north east at Wiltshire Police, said Wheeler was “not simply curious or a passive observer” but was an active member of a “Telegram chat group committed to extreme right-wing ideology.”

He said it was “important young people recognise the potential impact of their online activity”.

Judge Miller KC said Wheeler poses an “obvious danger to the public” and there was a “significant risk” of him “causing further harm by further offences”.
Presentational grey line

BBC News

A prominent far-right activist who set up a group called Voice of Wales and campaigned against “illegal” migrants has been handed a suspended prison sentence for his involvement in a fraud that robbed hundreds of ordinary people of their savings.

Daniel Raymond Morgan set up the group in Swansea with another activist called Stan Robinson. Their YouTube channel was banned permanently in 2021 for its racist content.

Morgan stood as a UKIP candidate for the Senedd in 2021 and, following the row over a now discontinued Home Office plan to house asylum seekers in Llanelli’s Stradey Park Hotel, has been touted as the party’s general election in the town’s constituency.

But his political future is now in doubt following a conviction for his role in a despicable insurance scam that tricked many into parting with their money.

Swansea Crown Court heard how a call centre was set up to con people on the back of the PPI scandal. It was responsible for an astonishing 53 million scam phone messages.

The fraudsters promised big payouts in connection with mis-sold Payment Protection Insurance policies but in reality their aim was simply to get victims’ credit card details and steal money from them.

Hundreds of people paid up to £550 each after being tricked by the call centre staff into believing they were due substantial PPI refunds, with many of the victims of the scam being elderly and vulnerable. Sentencing 16 people involved in the fraud – from directors of the firm to those working the phones – a judge described the aim of the business as “deliberate, planned fraud”.

Lee Reynolds, prosecuting, told the court that the company at the centre of the fraud went by various names including HES Synergy Limited and HES Savings Audit Ltd, and was set up with the aim of taking unlawful advantage of the financial scandal around mis-sold PPI. He said the fraud was “specifically and carefully planned” to give victims the false impression that they were entitled to a significant PPI refund and to get them to pay a fee to process their claims.

The court heard the victims of the scam were led to believe the business had specific knowledge regarding their individual finances and had access to information about their payment of PPI as well as knowledge of how much they were entitled to by way of a refund. In reality those behind the fraud had no such information or knowledge.

The prosecutor said the scam began with the firm sending out millions of deliberately misleading recorded messages – known as “voice broadcasts” – designed to “hook” potential victims.

The message said: “Our records indicate that you haven’t yet claimed back your PPI on certain loans and credit cards. You are owed thousands. To claim this back press 5 to speak to an advisor and 9 to opt out”. Over a three month period the message was broadcast an astonishing 53,191,988 times.

The court heard that though the message was a short one, it contained three important false statements and was nothing more than a “fishing” exercise. In reality the business did not have “records” about each consumer; it had no way of knowing whether the consumer had ever taken out PPI; and the positive statement that the victim was “owed thousands” was false.

Lead generator

The prosecutor said if a consumer responded to the initial voice broadcast message by pressing option “5” the call would be answered by a “lead generator” in the Swansea call centre who would usually answer the phone by saying “You’re through to the refund department”. Mr Reynolds said from this point “call centre staff would act together and fraudulently to facilitate the taking of financial information from customers with the aim being to convince the victim to part with the upfront fee”.

The court heard that, following scripts of what to say, the lead generators would harvest basic information from the callers such as name, address, date of birth, email, general information on past financial agreements, the name of the bank they used, and details of active credit cards. Misleading phrases such as “our solicitors” and “you’re on the database” would often be used to build confidence, and specific amounts of refunds the callers were supposedly entitled to were mentioned.

The lead generators would then pass the victims’ details to a “closer” who would call them back and introduce themselves variously as a “senior adviser”, or someone “from the legal team”, or “from the verification team”. The closer would tell the victims that they were going to run a financial report to verify the PPI agreements and to look for any agreements they might have forgotten about before a decision was made as to whether there was a valid claim.

The court heard call centre staff would then create secret email accounts for their victims and, using the information gleaned from earlier calls, access people’s private credit reports from companies such as Noddle, Clearscore and Experian. Any additional information needed by the fraudsters to access the credit reports would be requested from the victims under the guise of data protection requirements or security checks.

Credit reports

The court heard that the information in the credit reports told call centre staff nothing about any PPI payments or potential refunds but it could be used to further hoodwink consumers into thinking the company was genuine and had access to some kind of PPI database. Once the credit report had been secretly obtained the next step for the scammers was for a closer to ring the victim back again, provide them with details of the agreements on the credit report, and tell them there was a “green light” from the “legal team” and they had a strong claim. Again, all this was a lie.

The prosecutor said it was at this stage that the call centre staff introduced the concept of an “upfront fee” – this was normally £550 – which was presented to the victim as a “holding deposit” to be put on their credit card while the claim was being processed and was often referred to as being refundable. The closer then pressed the consumer to access their email account while on the phone so that documents with the terms and conditions could be sent to them to sign immediately.

Some consumers who didn’t have internet access or were unfamiliar with the online “e-sign” process were often asked if they could go to the local library to access their emails or get their son or daughter to help them. If victims had no email account the company arranged for a courier service to visit them to deliver the documents. The court heard the purpose of obtaining a quick signature was so that the company could take the upfront fee as soon as possible. However the evidence suggested that in many cases the fees were simply taken before signatures were collected or without any signature being obtained.

Mr Reynolds said victims would typically receive around five phone calls from the Swansea call centre on the same day, usually within the space of a few hours and with each successive phone call being “cleverly designed to build the victims’ trust and reinforce the impression that the victim had a valid PPI claim”. Having given their credit card details the victim would often get a final call just to confirm that their payment had gone through, and to say their claim was now commencing.

Regulated

The court heard that to allay any concerns about the company the victims were frequently told the company was “regulated”, “fully regulated” or “government regulated”, and they were directed to the Companies House website to show the firm was registered on a “government website”. If a victim chose to look at the Synergy website they would find fake customer testimonials, such as the one purporting to be from a “Mr Jones in Devon” which read “Synergy Express Audits were fast and reliable … and also passed my information onto their affiliate company to handle my PPI and package bank account fee. This was mis-sold to me and I got my refund in less than 12 weeks”. The court heard no evidence of a Mr Jones from Devon having got a refund was ever found in the company records.

It was complaints from legitimate PPI reclaim companies about the conduct of HES Synergy that led the Ministry of Justice to launch an investigation into its operations in September 2015. The extent and sophistication of the fraud was revealed after search warrants were executed at the company’s offices on Swansea Enterprise Park in the following January.

The court heard that by the time of the raids the business had already stopped trading but this was not due to an attack of conscience or morals on the part of the scammers but was simply because so many unhappy consumers had used the chargeback procedure on their credit cards to try to get their payments back that the firm was struggling to get payment providers willing to work with them.

Trading standards officers recovered hundreds of thousands of recorded phone calls between staff and victims and potential victims, as well as the call centre scripts with the misleading and false statements which staff had been using.

The prosecutor said while the fraud was orchestrated from those at the top of the business, anyone involved in the PPI calls for any length of time would have realised that lying was “rampant, essential, and expected” and in the call centre “lying to customers was the norm”.

Reporting restrictions

Six defendants, including Morgan, were convicted at trial in January this year but the trial could not be reported at that time due to reporting restrictions ahead of a second trial of their co-accused. All the remaining defendants subsequently pleaded guilty.

Judge Huw Rees said the call centre operation had been a “deliberate, planned fraud carefully structured and fraudulent from its inception” and at the heart of the conspiracy lay the defendants’ greed which “overrode any compassion or concern” for the victims. He told the defendants they had routinely misled people about the prospect of PPI refunds and peddled “blatant lies” on the phones, noting the lies “tripped easily off the tongue” for them. He said not only had the fraud affected individual victims who had been left with a feeling of “violation” but had affected the wider public’s respect and confidence in the industry.

Nine admitted conspiracy to commit fraud, six – including Morgan – were convicted of conspiracy to commit fraud following a trial and one admitted money laundering.

Morgan, 38, of Lamberts Road, SA1 development, Swansea, was part of the “Noddle team” fraudulently accessing people’s credit reports. He was sentenced to six months in prison suspended for 12 months with a rehabilitation course and a mental health treatment requirement.

Tom Scapens, for Morgan, said the defendant was a father to four children and, given his lack of convictions before or after his involvement in the call centre, the court “might think he is not a man in need of rehabilitation”.

Racist content

Morgan has been a prominent far right activist in Wales for several years. In 2021 YouTube removed two channels jointly run by him and fellow far-right activist Stan Robinson because of their racist content. Welsh politicians and race equality groups condemned the Voice of Wales channel for airing interviews with The Proud Boys, an American far-right group that has been outlawed in Canada, and controversial figures such as former English Defence League leader Tommy Robinson.

The YouTube account was terminated for breaching the platform’s terms of service. A second YouTube account, also set up by the men, was also removed.

Morgan usually styles himself “Dan Morgan” and did so when he stood in Swansea East at the Senedd election in 2021, coming fifth with 567 votes (3%). But in the South Wales West regional list section of the ballot, his full name – Daniel Raymond Morgan – appeared as Ukip’s number two candidate. Ukip came sixth with 2809 votes (2%).

We asked UKIP whether it would be taking any action against Morgan following his conviction, but received no response.

Nation Cymru

Tommy Robinson is banned from contacting journalist Lizzie Dearden about anything other than stories about him

Tommy Robinson was dubbed a “bully” by a judge as he lost a bid to overturn a stalking protection order which bans him from invading a journalist’s private life.

The 40-year-old activist turned up at reporter Lizzie Dearden’s home unannounced when he learned she was planning a story accusing him of misusing donations to his campaigns.

Robinson – real name Stephen Yaxley-Lennon – was heard shouting “f*** you Lizzie” in the late-night incident in January 2021, as he continued to ring the buzzer to the block of flats and shout out her name, Southwark crown court heard.

When she refused to come outside, Robinson made a series of false allegations about the journalist’s partner and threatened to “expose” him online.

A stalking protection order was imposed in October 2021, banning Robinson from contacting the journalist and her partner or talking about them online.

At a two-day appeal, the activist admitted the incident was not his “finest hour”. He also conceded that the allegations about Ms Dearden’s partner – which he shouted in the street and threatened to publish to his online followers – were entirely false.

Judge Gregory Perrins and two magistrates upheld the order, which lasts until October 2026, banning Robinson from contacting Ms Dearden about matters outside her journalistic work.

The judge said the visit to her home and shouted abuse in response to a request for comment on Ms Dearden’s story was not a “legitimate response….nor does it constitute any form of legitimate ‘journalism’ on the part of the appellant.

“It was, in our opinion, a calculated attempt to bully, intimidate and frighten Lizzie Dearden either as an act of revenge for the article she had written or in an attempt to prevent publication of that same article in the national press.”

The court also found that Robinson had effectively “spied” on the journalist by using a private investigator to track down her home address.

He said Robinson’s call to his social media followers for information on Ms Dearden’s partner was a further attempt to “intimidate her further”, and he had come close to blackmail with an email threatening to go public with the false allegations about her partner.

In her evidence, Ms Dearden, who was the Home Affairs editor at The Independent, said the incident left her terrified and the couple “went into hiding” as a result.

She also contemplated leaving her job at the media organisation.

The judge found Robinson had carried out actions associated with stalking, and that he continues to pose a risk to Ms Dearden and her partner due to the “significant grievance” he has.

The judge did agree to modify the court order to allow Robinson to exercise his freedom of speech by commenting publicly on stories written about him by the journalist.

This is includes a planned documentary featuring Robinson speaking about Ms Dearden in a 20-minute segment where he issues a string of rebuttals to the stories she had written.

But the judge said Robinson needs to be “careful” not to incite his followers into stalking the journalist, while the documentary also currently includes “sexual slurs” aimed at the journalist and her partner which he said would breach the stalking protection order if aired.

Robinson attended court for the two-day hearing last week, but was not present as the ruling was handed down on Wednesday.

Evening Standard

A man has admitted encouraging terrorist activity but denies threats to kill two terrorism experts.

Harry Parris, 22, pleaded guilty to four counts of encouraging terrorism online on the basis he was “reckless”.

On dates between 2019 to 2021 he published on video hosting services and messaging apps, the Old Bailey heard.

Parris, of Bittaford, Devon, also admitted six offences of having documents likely to be useful to a person preparing acts of terrorism.

However, the defendant denied making threats to kill two counter-terrorism analysts on 16 February 2020.

He also denied alternative charges of encouraging terrorism by publishing statements with the intention that members of the public would be encouraged.

The defendant entered his pleas before Mr Justice Jeremy Baker, via video link.

A provisional trial date has been set for 13 May and is due to be heard at Bristol Crown Court.

The defendant was granted continued bail with conditions, including not engaging in extreme right-wing activity online.

BBC News