Neo-Nazis jailed for posting racist stickers at university

Four members of the banned group National Action have been jailed for posting racist stickers on a university campus.

Chad Mark Williams-Allen (26), Garry Jack (21) and two other men placed stickers in five places around the Aston University campus in Birmingham, including on a prominent entrance sign in July 2016.

They were found guilty at Birmingham Crown Court on 9 May and sentenced today (13 June). Williams-Allen was jailed for 21 months and Jack received a 12-month sentence suspended for two years. The two other men, who cannot be named for legal reasons, received 12 months and 16 months each.

The offensive stickers included slogans such as “white zone” and "Britain is ours the rest must go” set against images showing masked faces and on one of them a raised arm in a Nazi-style salute. The prosecution argued the images were abusive, insulting and designed to intimidate. They were also intended to enforce the notion of a zone where non-white people would not be welcome.

Two days later the stickers were brought to the attention of university security staff who photographed and removed them. The men were identified using CCTV footage and other evidence found online. During the case at Birmingham Crown Court they did not deny they were at the campus and were responsible for displaying the stickers. They said their intention was not to stir up racial hatred.

The CPS argued that the stickers were recruitment tools for National Action in their promotion of a racial and extreme right-wing ideology. Through the messages in the stickers, National Action attempted to create a society divided into whites and non-whites. The defendants hoped the stickers would inspire others inclined to such extremist views to rise up in support of their racist agenda.

Williams-Allen lived in West Bromwich and Jack in Birmingham. The other two men were from Leicester and Birmingham. The police found National Action material in each of their homes.

Sue Hemming from the CPS said: “These men were committed members of National Action who went to Aston University with the intention of stirring up racial hatred.

“Their hope was to inspire others to stoke racial tensions but their and criminal attempt to incite others to despise, reject, and expel non-whites failed.

“National Action was not proscribed at the time of these events and since December 2016, membership has been an offence”.