Co-founder of National Action found guilty of membership in the proscribed neo-Nazi organisation

The co-founder of National Action has today been found guilty of membership in the proscribed neo-Nazi organisation

Ben Raymond, 32, helped launch the group in 2013, with Bristol Crown Court hearing how he coined the term “white jihad”.

Mr Raymond, from Swindon, is the seventeenth person to be found guilty of membership in the banned group. He was also convicted of possessing a manifesto written by the far-right terrorist Andrews Breivik, as well as a guide to homemade detonators, but was found not guilty of four counts of possessing other documents.

National Action was proscribed by the British Government following repeated calls by Campaign Against Antisemitism and others.

Mr Raymond’s alleged co-founder recently pleaded not guilty to a single charge of membership of a proscribed organisation and will stand trial next year.

They are alleged to have founded the group when they were both university students.

Mr Raymond remained involved in the group, even after it was banned, producing much of its material and reportedly being likened to Joseph Goebbels, the Nazi Propaganda Minister. He also remained in contact with other leading figures in the group, several of whom have been jailed.

Mr Raymond has been remanded in custody, with sentencing expected at the same court on Friday.

A spokesperson for Campaign Against Antisemitism said: “Ben Raymond was the co-founder of National Action, the poster child group for neo-Nazis in Britain today. He was also its master propagandist, doing what he could to broadcast its message of racist hate. The ban on National Action, secured after calls from Campaign Against Antisemitism and others, was the first step, and convictions of its members are the second. We trust that the sentence will be proportionate to the very serious charges on which Mr Raymond has been found guilty.”

Campaign Against Antisemitism has been monitoring and acting against the threat from the far-right for years and continues to support the authorities following suit.

Image credit: Counter Terrorism Policing