BNP election candidate arrested over Qur’an burning

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Sion Owens BNPA senior member of the BNP who burned a copy of the Qur’an in his garden has been arrested following an investigation by the Observer. Footage of the burning shows Sion Owens, 40, from south Wales and a candidate for the forthcoming Welsh Assembly elections, soaking the Qur’an in kerosene and setting fire to it.

Superintendent Phil Davies of South Wales police, who led the investigation, said: “We always adopt an extremely robust approach to allegations of this sort and find this sort of intolerance unacceptable in our society.”

Owens was arrested within hours of police receiving the video. A second person, believed to have filmed the Qur’an burning, is also in police custody.

Photographs show Owens at a Welsh Defence League demonstration with a group of alleged Nazis including Wayne Baldwin, who has been pictured posing in front of a swastika flag. The Observer has also been passed images that show Owens’s face apparently superimposed on Hitler’s body.

Owens was officially announced last week as the BNP’s number three candidate for the South Wales West constituency of the Welsh assembly.

In 2008 he stood for the BNP in council elections, polling almost a fifth of votes in his ward but finishing last out of three candidates. His campaign posters at the time show him standing on a ticket against “mass immigration, enforced multiculturalism, political correctness”.

Observer, 10 April 2011

Update:  See “BNP ‘Koran burning’ charge dropped”, Press Association, 11 April 2011

Epsom man pleads not guilty to race attack at Kingston mosque

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Kingston anti-Muslim protest 3A man accused of being part of a gang that allegedly threw beer at and urinated on a mosque after a march against Muslim extremism has pleaded not guilty to two charges.

David Morris, 20, of Elm Way, Epsom, pleaded not guilty to one count of affray and one count of religiously aggravated criminal damage at Kingston Magistrates Court today (April 7). Appearing in court with a shaved head and wearing a light blue polo shirt he spoke only to confirm his name, date of birth and enter a plea.

The attack is alleged to have happened following a march through Kingston town centre [pictured] against Muslim extremism in November last year. The march had been organised via facebook and during the incident outside the mosque the men are alleged to have also placed bacon on cars outside the building.

Terence Earl, 31, of Aspen Lane, Northolt also pleaded not guilty to the charges. Alfie Wallace, 18, of Hetherington Road, Shepperton; Paul Abley, 24, of Hounslow Road, Shepperton; Karl Matthews, 20, of Brentford High Street and Adam Khalfan, 18, of Feltham Road, Ashford, all declined to enter a plea to the same offences. They will all appear before Kingston Magistrates on May 23 for a committal hearing.

All were granted bail on condition that they do not enter the borough of Kingston.

Epsom Guardian, 7 April 2011

EDL protester starts jail term for affray

Posted on by Bob Pitt

A man accused of launching a “flying kick” at a police officer while at the forefront of trouble at an EDL march in the Black Country was today behind bars.

Thomas Blackwell admitted a charge of affray during the EDL protest in Dudley on July 17 last year and was sentenced to one year in prison. A DVD shown at Wolverhampton Crown Court yesterday showed Blackwell, aged 25, of Bird Street, Lower Gornal, wearing a white stab vest in the front few rows of protesters at the march as they confronted police.

Judge Michael Challinor told him the DVD showed he had “clearly” been at the forefront of the violence which erupted in Stafford Street on the day. “You attended this demonstration with the intention of causing disorder and violence,” he said. “This is clear from the fact you were wearing protective clothing in the form of a stab vest. In the course of this disorder you tackled a police officer by using a flying kick to his protective shield.”

Judge Challinor said he had considered the fact that Blackwell would lose his job and as a result, his home if sent to prison but added: “This type of violent behaviour so often prevents law-abiding citizens from protesting peacefully.”

Mr Stephen Thomas, prosecuting, told the court Blackwell had been near the front of the group of EDL protesters who had thrown bottles and bits of metal at police, before launching the “flying kick” at a police officer’s riot shield and swearing at him.

Express & Star, 7 April 2011

Hit-and-run victim’s family condemn EDL’s use of her photo

Posted on by Bob Pitt

EDL Blackburn LennonThe family of a grandmother killed in a hit-and-run have condemned the English Defence League for using her image on placards.

Freda Holt was one of several local faces used by 2,000 EDL protesters during Saturday’s town centre demonstration. The grandmother from Revidge Road, Blackburn, died after being knocked down by speeding unlicensed and uninsured driver Salim Chand last November. Chand, 27, was jailed for nine years. The EDL said it was highlighting “hit-and-runs by Muslims”.

But Freda’s husband Ray Holt, 72, said: “It would have been the very last thing Freda would have wanted. She was all about live and let live. She would have been absolutely horrified. As far as I am concerned he (Salim Chand) was an idiot driver. It’s got nothing to do with him being a Muslim.

“I had no knowledge of it and nobody had approached me to ask. I was in the town centre on Saturday but fortunately left before the protest because I don’t know what I would have done if I’d have seen her picture being used by the EDL.”

On Sunday, the family went to Mass and prayed for Freda and then put flowers on her grave at Pleasington Cemetery to mark what would have been her 71st birthday and Mother’s Day.

Eldest son Richard, 45, said he was shocked when he realised on Monday what had happened.

He said: “As a family all we wanted was justice for our mother regardless of race, colour or creed. The use of my mother’s picture was neither given permission for, or condoned, by us.

“My mother was a devout Catholic and would accept and help anyone, should they require it, which she had done countless times in her life. This is absolutely not what our mother stood for. As a family we do not wish to be linked in any way with EDL or any similar organisation.”

Freda’s daughter Rachel Harling, from Rishton, said she has seen the picture on an EDL website and felt “quite sick”. She said: “It was nothing to do with race or religion. It could have been anyone behind the wheel.”

Paul Houston, the father of 12-year-old Amy Houston, whose image was another of those used by the EDL, has also distanced himself from “extremism”.

Lancashire Telegraph, 6 April 2011

You really do wonder what the EDL leadership have in the place where most people have brains. How could they have failed to anticipate that using photos of road accident victims without permission would cause outrage to the victims’ families and backfire badly on the EDL? It is also difficult to see how this squares with the EDL’s claim that they are against Islam rather than Muslims. Is there perhaps a Qur’anic verse that authorises hit-and-run driving?

Update:  Now the story has been taken up by the Daily Mail.

Former soldier who issued mosque bomb threat jailed

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Neil MacGregorA former soldier who threatened to bomb Glasgow Central Mosque has been jailed for 12 months. Neil MacGregor, 38, also said he would execute Muslims on a daily basis unless every mosque in Scotland was closed down. He was originally placed on probation for three years, but breached the order.

MacGregor, of Crieff, made the threats in an email and a series of telephone calls to Strathclyde Police in 2007. Fiscal depute John Malpass told Perth Sheriff Court: “Because of the nature of the threat, senior officers and anti-terrorist officers were notified. Enquiries were made in relation to the source of the emails. The IP address was identified and traced to the accused’s home address. Police attended the Central Mosque and carried out a search which proved negative.”

MacGregor admitted breaching the probation order by disappearing to London after completing only one third of it. Sheriff Foulis, revoking probation and jailing him for a year, said: “It was a matter which the authorities, not surprisingly, took very seriously and reacted to in the manner described.”

When he initially admitted the offence at Glasgow Sheriff Court in 2009, his email was read out which stated:

“I’m a proud racist and National Front member. We as an organisation have decided to deal with the current threat from Muslims in our own British way, like our proud ancestors. Our demands are very small. Close all mosques in Scotland. If our demands aren’t met by next Friday, we’ll kidnap one Muslim and execute him or her on the internet, just like they did to our Ken Bigley.”

BBC News, 6 April 2011