Race hate mag suggested readers ‘Roast a Rabbi’

| Friday, 4 November 2005 Source: The Times

Five white supremacists were jailed today for a total of 15 years for producing and distributing race-hate material.

The five, all members of the extreme right-wing Racial Volunteer Force, had pleaded guilty to conspiracy to publish a magazine called Stormer with the intention of stirring up racial hatred. It included a step by step guide to making a nailbomb and a petrol bomb.

Other charges related to the RVF's website and distribution of extreme racist pop group Skrewdriver's DVD Live in Germany.

Old Bailey Judge Jeremy Roberts told the five men that they had been trying to stir up race hate and encourage race crime. "No one is being sentenced for their political beliefs - this is a free country," he told them.

He said that the RVF literature was designed to "encourage readers to resort to violence against people with non-white backgrounds". "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 Judge Roberts.

The prosecution followed raids by police in London, Lincolnshire, Surrey, Bedfordshire and Greater Manchester. after the website was discovered. The defendants pleaded guilty to the charges last month.

Mark Atkinson, 38, of the Roundway, Egham, Surrey was jailed for five years for Stormer and 12 months concurrently for the RVF website. A former dustman, the court heard that he had already been jailed for 21 months in London in 1997 for publishing a Combat 18 magazine, also called The Stormer. It had targeted personalities such as Venessa Redgrave and Anna Ford, and had forced Frank Bruno's mother to move after printing her address.

Jonathon Hill, 33, of South Croft, Oldham, Greater Manchester, was jailed for four years for Stormer.

Nigel Piggins, 39, of Haltemprice Street, Hull, was jailed for two years three months for Stormer and a further three months for distributing the Skrewdriver DVD.

Steven Bostock, 27, of Westmorland Road, Urmston, Manchester, was jailed for two years and three months for Stormer and a further three months for the website.

Polish-born Michael Denis, 30, of Ashdown Way, Tooting, south London, was jailed for a year for Stormer.

A sixth defendant, Kevin Quinn, 40, of Ouseland Road, Bedford, pleaded guilty to possessing a November 9th Society nazi booklet, The Longest Hatred, and was given a nine month sentence suspended for two years.

Atkinson's girlfriend, Elizabeth Hunt, 36, of Dawson Avenue, Southport, Merseyside, was discharged after the prosecution offered no evidence.

In a tribute to Soho nailbomber David Copeland, jailed for murder in 1999, Stormer readers were told "step-by-step" how to build a viable device.

An article headed Roast a Rabbi offered "one hundred team points" for the first person to torch a synagogue, said Max Hill, prosecuting. Above a picture of a firebomb it 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."

The front of the magazine said above picture of a swastika: "We must secure the existence of our people and a future for white children."

Max Hill, prosecuting, said that the RVF evolved from the violent Combat 18 group of racists and three editions of Stormer, with pages decorated with swastikas and foul language, were printed up to 2003. The third edition appeared to have been printed in Poland and transported to Britain, said Mr Hill. He described the magazine as "offensive, shocking and explicit".

The publications contained anti-Jewish and anti-Muslim references and a derogatory reference to murdered black teenager Stephen Lawrence.

After the case, 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 conclusion of this case sends a clear message to anyone inclined to stir up race hatred that they will be tracked down and brought before the courts."

Carmen Dowd, head of special crimes at the Crown Prosecution Service, said: "You only need to look at the detail of these magazines to show how despicable and heinous the material is."