Bloody Asylum Seekers

I'd forgotten about the post-modern irony of Simon Sheppard and Stephen Whittle, who fled the UK to claim asylum in the USA. Apparently, this master plan did not work (the US being full of non-whites and Jews and all) and they came back.

The Guardian explains, "Two British racists who fled to the US were jailedtoday following what is believed to be the UK's first conviction for inciting racial hatred online.

Simon Sheppard, 52, and Stephen Whittle, 42, were sentenced at Leeds crown court for a number of race-hate crimes.

The court heard the pair had published grotesque images of murdered Jewish people alongside cartoons and articles ridiculing other ethnic groups.

During their first trial the pair skipped bail and fled to California where they sought asylum claiming they were being persecuted for their rightwing views. They were locked up before being deported back to the UK."

...

The court heard the investigation began when a complaint about a leaflet called Tales of the Holohoax was reported to the police in 2004. It was traced back to a post office box registered to Sheppard in Hull, and police later found a website featuring racially inflammatory material.

Prosecutors said one article suggested that Auschwitz was a holiday camp for Jews provided by the Nazis. Jonathan Sandiford, prosecuting, said: "The general theme of the article was that Auschwitz-Birkenau was in fact a holiday camp provided by the Nazi regime. A constant theme was that the Jewish people had made up the story of the Holocaust as a slur on the German people."

Food for thought for our freedom of speech brigade and our deranged follower from Brighton.

Dave Gorman has an interesting and effective way of dealing with obsessives in his latest blog post here. It also raises concerns over the new mobile telephone directory.

Wretched Refuse of our Teeming Shores

No further comment needed on this story from The Yorkshire Post:

Race Hate Pair Flee to US for political asylum

TWO men convicted of publishing race-hate articles on the internet have skipped bail and fled to the United States to claim political asylum, the Yorkshire Post can reveal.

Simon Sheppard and Stephen Whittle were given bail by a judge at Leeds Crown Court on Friday, despite having been found guilty of a series of race-related offences.

The pair were due to return to court on Monday while a jury continued deliberating over further charges, but they failed to turn up.

Last night Sheppard, 51, and Whittle, 41, were being held by immigration officials at Los Angeles Airport – outside the jurisdiction of the British court system.

It is believed that the pair travelled from the UK to Ireland by ferry before taking a direct flight to Los Angeles.

They are likely to have their case considered at an immigration hearing in the US before UK authorities can secure their return.

A spokeswoman for Humberside Police, which led the race-hate investigation, said: "We are led to believe that they are indeed being detained by the Immigration and Naturalisation Service (INS) at Los Angeles Airport.

"They are in custody and we are in liaison with the INS to establish that this pair are our two men and, if so, what is likely to happen to them."

Sheppard, of Brook Street, Selby, was found guilty after a seven-week trial of 11 counts of publishing racially inflammatory written material.

The jury gave unanimous verdicts on nine of the charges on Friday, and returned with two majority verdicts on Monday while Sheppard was absent.

Whittle, of Avenham Lane, Preston, was convicted of five counts of publishing racially inflammatory written material.

Four of the verdicts were reached unanimously on Friday, and the fifth was returned by a majority of 10 to one on Monday after Whittle had absconded.

The jury were unable to reach verdicts on seven further race-related charges which Sheppard faced.

A spokeswoman for the Crown Prosecution Service said it had yet to decide whether Sheppard should be retried on the seven outstanding charges. It has 14 days to reach a decision.

The case is due to be considered further at a hearing at Leeds Crown Court on July 28.