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Guilty verdicts in retrial for race hate pair who fled to US
TWO men found guilty of waging a race-hate campaign against Jews and minority groups before fleeing the UK published material which was "obnoxious and abhorrent", prosecutors have said.
Simon Sheppard, 51, and Stephen Whittle, 41, skipped bail and fled to the US after being convicted of a series of race-hate offences at Leeds Crown Court.
Sheppard was found guilty of 11 offences and Whittle was found guilty of five offences in July last year.
The jury was unable to agree a verdict on a further seven charges against Sheppard and it was decided to have a retrial on six of these charges, which concluded today.
Sheppard and Whittle claimed political asylum and have been held in prison while US immigration authorities investigate their application. A hearing is due to be held in March.
The investigation into Sheppard began when a complaint about a leaflet called "Tales of the Holohoax" was reported to the police in 2004 after it was pushed through the door of a Synagogue in Blackpool.
It was traced back to a post office box in Hull registered to Sheppard.
Reviewing lawyer Mari Reid, of the CPS's Counter Terrorism Division, said: "People are entitled to hold racist and extreme opinions which others may find unpleasant and obnoxious.
"What they are not entitled to do is to publish or distribute those opinions to the public in a threatening, abusive or insulting manner either intending to stir up racial hatred or in circumstances where it is likely racial hatred will be stirred up.
"The vast majority of the material in this case concerned Jewish people, but there was also material relating to Black, Asian and non-white people generally, all described in derogatory terms using offensive language.
"As well as printed leaflets, there was evidence of Simon Sheppard controlling websites which featured racist material, some of it written by Whittle, under the pen name of Luke O'Farrell."
The pair were charged with publishing racially inflammatory material; distributing racially inflammatory material; possessing racially inflammatory material with a view to distribution.
Sheppard, of Brook Street, Selby, and Whittle, of Avenham Lane, Preston, denied the charges.
Mrs Reid said one of the leaflets went much further than simply denying the Holocaust.
"The whole subject was treated in a way that was insulting and abusive and as a subject for humour.
"Another example was a leaflet called "Ohdruff, Auschwitz Holiday Resort" where the general theme is that Auschwitz was in fact a holiday camp provided by the Nazi regime and to which Jews from all over Europe came to enjoy a free holiday."
The case was adjourned and the pair will be sentenced in March.
Full story in Friday's Yorkshire Post
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Saturday 26 May 2012
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