A DRUNK dad beat and stamped on his ex-partner ‘like an animal’ and sent threatening, Islamophobic messages after she took a Muslim lover.
Peter Finch was jailed for 12 months at Worcester Crown Court after he beat his ex in a drunken rage which left her with a suspected broken rib.
He denied assault occasioning actual bodily harm against girlfriend Rebecca Harding at her home in Worcester but was found guilty at trial.
The 31-year-old, who said he was a former member of the English Defence League, previously admitted criminal damage to a door and malicious communication which was deemed racially or religiously aggravated between July and October last year.
Finch of Patterdale Drive, Warndon, Worcester, carried out the assault in May last year after Miss Harding, his partner of five years, returned home from work at about 6pm.
Mark Phillips, prosecuting, said: “The relationship was characterised by this defendant becoming aggressive when in drink.
“It was clear he had been out at the pub during the afternoon and was suffering from the effects of drinking too much.
“He accused her of having an affair when she told him she had other plans for the evening other than going out with him.”
The attack happened in a bedroom where she had gone to get changed.
“She described the defendant flying in and punching her in the face.
“The blow with his right hand struck her right cheek. She saw it instantly swelling up. He pushed her to the floor where he held her by the throat.
“She told him she was unable to breathe but still he would not let her go.”
He was described as kneeling on her while he punched her repeatedly in the body.
Mr Phillips said: “Whilst doing so he said ‘this is what I would have done to him’, presumably referring to the man he believed she was having the affair with.
“He stood up. She was curled up in a defensive position, into a ball. She was on her side, exposing her right flank. He then stamped on her ribs.
“She cried out in pain. It was only at that point the defendant seemed to have any sort of remorse about what he had done, saying he was sorry.
“She describes him as behaving like an animal. She had never seen him like that before.”
Miss Harding suffered bruising and a suspected broken rib during the attack. She went to see her doctor and had her medication for depression ‘doubled’, Mr Phillips said.
When Finch learned Miss Harding had travelled to Marrakech and had a new Moroccan boyfriend he sent her a number of abusive texts and WhatsApp messages.
Mr Phillips said: “There was reference to enjoying her time in a burka, clear reference to her being with a Muslim man.
“He refers to himself hating Muslims with a passion and said ‘you were happy to marry a man who hates Muslims with a passion and would wipe them off the planet’. He says he hopes she gets killed.”
In interview he told police: “I was part of the English Defence League.”
Finch represented himself because he was not eligible for legal aid and could not afford to pay anyone to represent him.
He said his ex had sent him messages about sexual activity between her and her new partner. He said: “It was more than disheartening – it was soul-breaking when she sent that to me.”
He added: “I have not been part of the English Defence League for three years. Now my views are completely changed.”
Judge Nicholas Cole said the assault was aggravated because it took place in front of a child. Although the physical injuries were limited to bruising and a suspected broken rib, the emotional impact had been ‘severe’.
He said of the threatening messages that he was satisfied that they were partly motivated by hostility towards Muslims.
He sentenced him to 12 months in custody for the ABH, four weeks for the criminal damage and three months for the malicious communicated with an extra month added because it was religiously/racially aggravated (four months in total). These sentences will be served concurrently to the 12 months, making a total sentence of 12 months.
No separate penalty was imposed for breach of a conditional discharge.
An indefinite restraining order was granted prohibiting him from having contact with Rebecca Harding.
‘A WORCESTER City Council election candidate has sparked fresh fury by casting doubts about the Holocaust – on a sick website hosted in Russia.
We revealed earlier this week how Carl Mason, who is standing in the Nunnery ward in May, has quit as the city’s BNP organiser to launch a new right-wing group called the ‘British Resistance Party’.
But the controversial figure, who was questioned by police last Saturday after stickers linking the Labour Party to paedophiles appeared on lampposts, is now coming under fresh scrutiny for his online blogging.
The 50-year-old is a writer on a website called the ‘European Knights Project‘, which claims to provide a platform for people looking to “preserve Christian culture”.
On it Mr Mason, who boasts about waging “a one-man war against multiculturalism”, says many Germans were jailed for “doing little more than following orders”.
He also refers to the documented history of the Einsatzgruppen, where Nazi death squads were responsible for the mass slaughter of Jewish people, as wrong – saying “they did no such thing”, claiming the Germans instead shot “Communists” as a “revenge” for allied forces taking their farms, factories and homes.
Worcester Nazi Carl Mason
He also cites doubts about several other elements of the Holocaust, before suggesting a conspiracy is at play to fool people.
“Could it be to control people’s voting habits, and in turn keep certain political parties in power, and in the money,” he writes.
“Is it being done in a manner so we feel sympathy towards the people that control our money supply, run our banks and media, so people are socially conditioned to hating people like me?
“Recall whenever a patriot is referred to as a ‘Nazi’, an image of shrunken heads and skin lampshades immediately pops up.”
Other online posts also bring up similar rhetoric, and on his official resistance party’s website he calls himself its “security adviser”, using the slogan: “Enough is enough – attack one of us, attack all of us – meet the British Resistance, our organisation and nation’s last line of defence.”
He also refers to wanting to “stand against Islamism, Zionism and British traitors”.
Mr Mason has told this newspaper he was “not denying the Holocaust” but admitted writing the posts because of doubts over the official narrative.
“If I wrote that in 53 countries I’d be arrested, that’s why the site is hosted in Russia,” he said.
“I’m not denying the Holocaust, as such but I’m asking questions – I think it did happen, but it was different to what history says.”
Worcestershire MEP James Carver, who is of Romanichal descent, has called it “despicable”.
“It’s disgusting, the historical facts about the Holocaust are clear,” he said.
“I know Holocaust survivors personally, this is just despicable – I know the stories and the heartbreak.”
West Mercia Police are taking no action against Mr Mason for the stickers linking the Labour Party to paedophiles, after he denied sticking them on lampposts.
He did, however, admit to printing off “around 2,000” to sell to other people.
On Saturday 22nd March the far-right protest group, English Defence League, are planning to hold a ‘national demonstration’ in Worcester.
They have randomly chosen the city to be the next host of their vile politics of racism and bigotry, only seeking to further divide communities in a time of brutal austerity measures by the Tories and their economic class.
We are calling for as many people as possible to come out and let them know that their politics of hatred and division are not welcome!
Keep the date in your diary, check back on this site for details and updates.
“The EDL kicked off their year with a poorly attended short walk from Slough train station to the High Street and back again, on Saturday. They had very visible and vocal opposition all the way as locals and antifascists let them know that they were not welcome and attempted to block their march route.
The Worcester & Bromsgrove EDL divisions were spotted arriving in Slough in a coach hired from the Bromsgrove Bus & Coach Co. These divisions are to host the next EDL ‘national demo’ which is due to be held in Worcester on 22nd March 2014. Antifascists are organising to oppose them.
For anybody wanting to ask this company why they are happy to take a bunch of far-right racists to another town to attempt to stir up division and racial tension, you can contact them in the following ways:-
Anti-fascists are getting organised to oppose the far-right on the streets in 2014.
On Saturday January 18th the East Anglian ‘Patriots’ are holding a demonstration in Lincoln. The East Anglian Patriots are yet another faction to the right of the EDL. Yes that’s right – to the right. Apparently the EDL which its founder left because it was infested with Nazis isn’t right-wing enough for them.
Last time the East Anglian ‘Patriots’ had a demo in Lincoln, back in June, they were opposed by a resolute crowd of locals, showing they were not welcome.
Although all the EDL splinter groups are relatively small they are all friends with each other, so with every East Anglian Patriots demo we can expect the usual ragbag of fascists – the Infidels, the South East Alliance, March for England, the English Volunteer Force etc etc. Speakers at their rally include Paul Pitt, AKA Prodromou (last seen at a rally for the openly Nazi Greek Golden Dawn – very patriotic!) and John ‘Snowy’ Shaw who recently proclaimed: “I am a radical bigoted intolerant extremist and proud of it”. A charming bunch!
Luckily Lincolnites are getting organised to oppose the racist rabble. Lincoln Against Racism and Fascism have called a counter demonstration.
As well as the EDL-wannabe alphabet soup of the NWI, EAP, MFE, SEA, EVF etc. the EDL proper have also announced 3 national demos for 2014.
On February 1st they will be in Slough for no obvious reason apart from Slough has a large Asian population. Berkshire Anti-Fascists have made a national anti-fascist call-out to oppose them.
On Mar 22nd the EDL have said they will be demonstrating in Worcester and in Sheffield sometime in May. Sheffield Anti-Fascist Network have already started organising to oppose them. They will be holding a public meeting in February as a preliminary. Email sheffieldafn@riseup.net for updates.
The EDL being surrounded and outnumbered on a previous visit to Sheffield
Support these counter-mobilisations to the far-right in 2014. Get to them if you can. Spread the word. Put the dates in your diary and start making plans. Let’s make this the year the far-right are finished as a force on the streets of the UK!
-More to follow soon on the planned EDL demo in Worcester on March 22nd-
Ex-soldiers among Midland members looking to former Smethwick MP Oswald Mosley as spiritual leader
Oswald Mosley (centre) with members of his British Union of Fascists including (left) William Joyce who later became Lord Haw Haw
A sinister new group of right-wing extremists is trying to revive Oswald Mosley’s notorious British Union of Fascists party.
Calling themselves the 21st Century Blackshirts, members look up to former Smethwick MP and Nazi sympathiser Mosley as their spiritual leader.
In the 1930s Mosley’s British Union of Fascists aligned itself with Nazi Germany and Italian dictator Benito Mussolini while its paramilitary footsoldiers, dubbed the Blackshirts, terrorised Britain’s Jews.
Now far-right defectors from groups like the British National Party and English Defence League have resurrected the party re-labelling it the New British Union party (NBU)
Set up in January, the party has named 54 “officers” from across Britain on its web page which has already had more than 50,000 hits.
A Sunday Mercury investigation has discovered that its top two Midland representatives are former soldiers while other district officers in the region include failed local election candidates for the British National Party.
Others have links to the English Defence League including the party’s Gloucestershire Divisional Officer Clive Cerrone who is currently awaiting trial accused of setting fire to a local mosque last month.
The party website also lists representatives in 11 nations including the US, Australia, Italy and Poland.
One banner on the site reads: “Some people are fascist. Get over it.”
It adds: “New British Union. 21st Century Blackshirts Marching On For Britain.”
Members are encouraged to dress in paramilitary blackshirt style uniforms, like the type worn by fascist Mussolini’s private army during his authoritarian rule.
Their site — which shows Mosley’s fanatical followers performing the stiff-armed fascist salute — boasts: “This will be an historic occasion, the first official Blackshirt meeting to be held since the Second World War, heralding the return of a registered fascist political party in Britain.”
Ian Starks
The NBU lists its Birmingham Divisional Officer as former RAF Gulf and Kosovo war veteran Ian Starks, who was the unsuccessful BNP candidate for Sheldon Heath in last year’s local elections.
The 45-year-old, from Sheldon, Birmingham, lists Paganism and Wicca as pastimes on his Facebook page.
The party’s West Bromwich officer Jennifer Howells has also stood for election under the BNP banner in local government elections.
Brian Meaker
She sought torepresent Sandwell in 2010.
And its Worcestershire officer Brian Meaker, who strikes a menacing pose handcuffed in an Gutanamo Bay style orange jumpsuit, is a life-time member of the BNP.
Mathew Maloney
The NBU’s latest recruit is its Walsall officer Matthew Moloney, a 35-year-old dad-of-two and former soldier with the Royal Monmouthshire engineers regiment.
He claims to be a carpenter for Birmingham City Council, but a council spokesman said he was not directly employed.
The BNP has tried to distance itself from the fascist party saying it was a “nondescript sideshow.”
Deputy BNP leader Simon Darby said: “We don’t condone or have official links with any other parties and I think you’ll find such splinter groups rise and then break up very quickly.”
A key NBU member is former ‘Policies Officer’ Matthew Gill, a charity worker and Doctor Who fan, who heads the Warwickshire chapter.
On the NBU website an article on immigration in Gill’s name reads: “There are those who will say there is nothing wrong with massive Third World immigration so long as they learn the language, adapt to the local culture and so on. This presupposes that the human being can be intentionally colour blind.”
Gill’s blog posting adds: “The truth, of course, is that even if a Kenyan can speak perfect English, even if he wears English clothes, uses English slang and attends the C of E, none of that makes him English!”
The party claims not to be racist or anti-semitic but a careful look at its constitution reveals a bitter hatred of multiculturalism and non-white immigrants.
Its immigration policy states that immigrants “… must be prepared to totally leave their past nationality behind them. Racially and ethnically they must be compatible with the majority population where they wish to settle.
“This does not mean being exactly the same, but that they are at least similar enough that their assimilation will be smooth, and have no negative effects on the native population.
“The same goes for religious beliefs. They must be the same as the majority or at least similar enough so as to have no problem adopting the established values and moral code of the nation.”
“Differences cause problems and excessive diversity leads to nothing but trouble.” It adds: “Freedom of religion would not be absolute. All ties with the former homeland of the immigrant will be cut.
“Multiculturalism does not work and only ruins all cultures involved.”
The party takes a bizarre stance on education policies simply stating: “One goes to school to learn, not play and not have subsidized orgies.”
Gerry Gable, from anti-fascist magazine Searchlight said that the NBU was a sinister organisation with many members claiming to be Pagans or followers of Satanic and Wiccan cults.
He said: “Mosley was a Nazi sympathiser and he eventually changed the name of his party to reflect Hitler’s influence and called it the British Union of Fascists and National Socialists.
“This new incarnation of his notorious Blackshirts is clearly attracting the dregs from other far-right groups but I don’t think it will survive.”
Gary Fiennes-Hastings, editor of far-right monitor website EDL News added: “Time and time again groups try and reform the fascist ideology but this country has a long and proud tradition for fighting fascism.
“We must never forget that our grandparents and great grandparents gave their lives fighting the ideology that these people are promoting.”
The Sunday Mercury has contacted each of the Midland members identified as NBU members to ask them to comment on their views.
But each one directed us to their head office. Last night Gary Raikes, NBU founder – who has taken on Mosley’s preferred title of Leader and signs off his correspondence with ‘Hail Britannia’ – told the Sunday Mercury that he was in favour of racial segregation.
He said: “We do not imply that only people from Caucasian Christian origin would be welcome to the UK, we state that whatever their racial origin it would be better if they settled in areas that are made up in the majority of that origin, black, white or whatever.
“Officers can belong to whichever political party they wish at this time.
“We have no official links to either EDL or BNP, both failed movements, in our opinion, and have nothing to offer British Fascism.”
Benito Mussolini
MOSELEY – A MAN CAPTIVATED WITH ITALIAN DICTATOR MUSSOLINI
Sir Oswald Mosley was born into an aristocratic family in 1896 and grew up in Staffordshire before serving as a Labour MP for Smethwick in the 1920s.
In January 1932 he visited Benito Mussolini and was so captivated with the Italian dictator and his National Fascist Party that later that year he founded his own British Union of Fascists, BUF.
In 1938 Mussolini passed laws barring Jews from universities and many professions and later when Germany occupied parts of the country, more than 7,000 Jews were deported to Nazi concentration camps, with many dying at Auschwitz.
Mosley returned to England to organise marches policed by his paramilitary Blackshirts and the government was sufficiently concerned to pass the Public Order Act 1936, which banned political uniforms and quasi-military style organisations.
An MI5 report from a British Union of Fascists rally in the 1930s revealed: “The significant feature was to express determination to defeat the enemy (The Jew) if not by the ballot box then by other and more drastic means, a sentiment cheered to the echo.”
In May 1940 the BUF was banned by the Government, effectively killing off the movement, and Mosley was interned for most of the rest of the war.
On his release an undeterred Mosley continued to campaign on an anti-immigration platform, calling for forced repatriation of Caribbean immigrants as well as a prohibition upon mixed marriages.
His papers are housed at the University of Birmingham’s Special Collections.
POLICE ALERTED TO MOSQUE THREATS
Police are investigating a Midland man after the Sunday Mercury alerted officers to threats he made against local mosques.
Peugeot worker John Molloy, from Coventry, told followers on the English Defence League Facebook website that he would “guarantee a few will get bombed tonight” just days after the Woolwich terror attack last month.
He went on to urge people to “Take to the streets” in support of English Defence League leader Tommy Robinson after he was arrested.
Robinson has been released on police bail after he was arrested on suspicion of obstructing police in London.
Mr Molloy, from Wyken, could not be contacted for comment last night.
A West Midlands Police spokesman said: “ The Force Intelligence Department will assess the content of the files you have sent to us and take any appropriate action.”
3 Counties Anti-Fascist Alliance (3CAFA) 
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