BNP member denies hate leaflets charge

Yorkshire Post | Thursday, 13 August 2009 | Click here for original article

A MEMBER of the British National Party denied in court trying to stir up religious hatred by sending out leaflets blaming Muslims for the heroin trade.

The leaflets were distributed across Yorkshire, Cumbria and Lancashire.

Anthony Bamber, 53, of Greenbank Street, Preston, is accused of distributing pamphlets urging people to "heap condemnation" on Muslims, who must "apologise" for their actions.

A photograph of Rachel Whitear, 21, who was found dead in Exmouth, Devon, in May 2000, holding a syringe, accompanied the literature.

Bamber, a former BNP candidate who stood at local elections in Preston in 2006, told Preston Magistrates' Court yesterday he was not guilty of incitement to commit religious hatred.

Colin Gibbs, prosecuting, said: "Mr Bamber was the writer and printer of these leaflets, which sent out his ideology that all Muslims should be held to account for the heroin trade.

"They were threatening and intended to stir up religious hatred."

Three other men arrested in the investigation have been told they will not face charges.