Two men jailed after being found guilty of membership in neo-Nazi National Action terrorist group

Two men have been jailed after being found guilty of membership in the neo-Nazi terrorist group, National Action.

Christopher Lythgoe, 32, of Warrington, and Matthew Hankinson, 24, of Newton-le-Willows, Merseyside, were convicted of membership in the neo-Nazi National Action group, which was proscribed as a terrorist organisation by the British Government following pressure by Campaign Against Antisemitism and others.

Mr Lythgoe, the leader of the group, was found not guilty of encouragement to murder for allegedly giving Jack Renshaw permission to kill Rosie Cooper MP on behalf of the group. Mr Renshaw has already been jailed for life over a plot to kill Ms Cooper, who is his MP. Previously, in 2017, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) decided to prosecute Mr Renshaw after lawyers for Campaign Against Antisemitism wrote to declare our intention to launch a private prosecution. Mr Renshaw was charged with two offences of incitement to racial hatred in relation to speeches made in 2016, as well as his tweets.

Jurors at the Old Bailey were unable to decide whether Mr Renshaw, Michal Trubini, 35, from Warrington or Andrew Clarke, 33, from Prescot, Merseyside were guilty of membership in National Action, and found Garron Helm, 24, from Seaforth in Merseyside not guilty of being a member of the group.

Mr Lythgoe was jailed for eight years and Mr Hankinson for six.