Image copyright West Midlands Police Image caption Mikko Vehvilainen will be sentenced on Friday after pleading guilty to another offence

A soldier who was based in Powys has been cleared of a terrorism offence.

L/Cpl Mikko Vehvilainen, 33, of the Sennybridge Camp in Brecon, was found not guilty of possessing a document containing terrorist information.

The charge related to a manual by Norwegian mass murderer and terrorist Anders Breivik - who killed 77 people in two attacks in Norway in 2011.

Jurors at Birmingham Crown Court also acquitted Vehvilainen of two counts of stirring up racial hatred online.

Vehvilainen had earlier pleaded guilty to being in possession of a prohibited weapon - an illegal pepper spray - and will be sentenced on Friday.

Police found dozens of weapons - including knives, crossbows and a "war hammer" - at two properties in Powys occupied by Vehvilainen and guns which had licences.

A 23-year-old civilian male from Birmingham will also be sentenced after being convicted of two counts of possessing documents containing terrorist information.

Image copyright West Midlands Police Image caption Some of the weapons found at the two properties and not in Vehvilainen's possession

The court heard that one of the documents was a "racist instructional book aimed at white extremists."

The man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was also convicted of distributing a terrorist publication called "Ethnic Cleansing Operations".

But jurors found him not guilty of a separate count of possessing the Breivik manual.

Another solider - 25-year-old Pte Mark Barrett, who was based in Cyprus when arrested last year - was found not guilty of membership of a banned neo-Nazi group.

An Army spokesman said: "We expect the highest standards of behaviour from our personnel whether on or off duty.

"Anyone found to have fallen short of these standards will be dealt with administratively and can face a number of sanctions including dismissal." </s> A soldier from Rutland accused of being part of a banned far-right group has been acquitted.

Private Mark Barrett, of Kendrew Barracks, Cottesmore, faced a single charge of membership of National Action, contrary to the Terrorism Act 2000.

The 23-year-old was found not guilty of membership of the group in a court appearance in Birmingham on Friday.

He appeared in court alongside another member of the Royal Anglian Regiment, Mikko Velvilainen and a 23-year-old who cannot be named for legal reasons.

Velvilainen. of Sennybridge Camp in Brecon, was convicted of having a banned CS gas canister, generally known as tear gas, and jailed for 12 months.

The 33-year-old who stockpiled a host of legally held weaponry, pleaded guilty to possession of the spray, which he kept in the drawer of a home he was renovating.

However, he was cleared following a trial of having a copy of a terrorist document - namely white nationalist mass murderer Anders Breivik's manifesto, the European Declaration of Independence.

The Army trainer and Afghan veteran was also cleared of two counts of stirring up racial hatred in forum posts on the website Christogenea.org.

The unnamed 23-year-old was convicted at the same trial of possession of two terrorist documents and distributing another.

He was jailed for three-and-a-half years for the offences, to run concurrently. </s> Image copyright West Midlands Police Image caption Mikko Vehvilainen was sentenced on Friday

A serving soldier and self-confessed racist has been jailed for having a banned CS gas canister.

L/Cpl Mikko Vehvilainen, 33, of Sennybridge Camp in Brecon, was cleared of terror offences on Thursday but admitted having a prohibited weapon.

Vehvilainen kept the spray in a drawer of a home he was renovating in Llansilin, Powys.

He was jailed for a total of eight years after another offence was taken into consideration.

A judge at Birmingham Crown Court said he had a "long and deep-seated adherence" to racist ideology.

Pavlos Panyai QC, the soldier's barrister, told the trial jury it was "not in dispute he is a racist" but it was not criminal, by itself, to hold such views.

Police found dozens of weapons - including knives, crossbows and a "war hammer" - at two properties in Powys occupied by Vehvilainen and guns which were licenced.

He also kept a photograph which showed him giving a Nazi-type salute at a memorial to his native Finland's independence.

Image copyright West Midlands Police Image caption Some of the weapons found at the two properties but not in Vehvilainen's possession

Recorder of Birmingham, Melbourne Inman QC, said: "It is to be hoped the time in custody will enable you to look and consider of what you seek to achieve, in hope you put it behind you."

Vehvilainen, of the Royal Anglian Regiment, was cleared following a trial of having a copy of a terrorist document - namely white nationalist mass murderer Anders Breivik's manifesto, the European Declaration of Independence.

Mr Panyai told the judge: "His career in the Army is over and he leaves having dishonoured himself and, what is more, having brought infamy on himself."

When the married father-of-three was arrested in September 2017, he told his wife: "I'm being arrested for being a patriot".

A 23-year-old man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was also jailed for three-and-a-half years for possession of two terrorist documents and distributing another.

A third man, also of the Royal Anglians, Pte Mark Barrett, 23, of Rutland, Leicestershire, was acquitted of membership of the banned extreme far right terrorist group, National Action.

An Army spokesman said: "We expect the highest standards of behaviour from our personnel whether on or off duty.

"Anyone found to have fallen short of these standards will be dealt with administratively and can face a number of sanctions including dismissal." </s> A serving British soldier and self-confessed racist convicted of having a banned CS gas canister has been jailed.

Corporal Mikko Vehvilainen, who stockpiled a host of legally held weaponry, pleaded guilty to possession of the spray, which he kept in the drawer of a home he was renovating.

The 33-year-old also kept a photograph at the property in Llansilin, Powys, Wales which showed him giving a Nazi-type salute at a memorial to his native Finland’s independence.

Sentencing him to 12 months for the offence on Friday, Judge Melbourne Inman QC, the Recorder of Birmingham, said Vehvilainen had a “long and deep-seated adherence” to racist ideology.

He added: “It is to be hoped the time in custody will enable you to look and consider of what you seek to achieve, in hope you put it behind you.”

Vehvilainen, of the Royal Anglian Regiment, was cleared following a trial on Thursday of having a copy of a terrorist document – namely white nationalist mass murderer Anders Breivik’s manifesto, the European Declaration of Independence.

In evidence, the jury was shown his stockpiles of legally held weaponry, including knives, a shotgun and bow and arrows, weapons lists, customised black spray-painted body armour and notebooks containing racist language.

He also had a box of Nazi swastika flags, another pennant pinned to his wardrobe door, and two ceremonial daggers, one inscribed with the symbol of the feared Second World War Nazi paramilitary group the SS.

The Army trainer and Afghan veteran was also cleared of two counts of stirring up racial hatred in forum posts on the website Christogenea.org.

The married father-of-three was arrested on September 5 2017 at his family accommodation at Sennybridge Camp Army base in Brecon, Powys, Wales.

When detained, he told his wife: “I’m being arrested for being a patriot”.

Pavlos Panyai QC, the soldier’s barrister, told the trial jury it was “not in dispute he a racist” but that it was not criminal, by itself, to hold such views.

In mitigation, his counsel told the judge: “His career in the Army is over and he leaves having dishonoured himself and, what is more, having brought infamy on himself.”

Mr Panayi explained how Vehvilainen’s in-laws had been staying with him during the arrest.

He said the soldier’s father-in-law suffered a stroke the following day – and died a month later – for which he “bears responsibility”.

Vehvilainen, who appeared stoic and unmoved throughout the five-week trial, appeared emotional as that fact was read to the court.

Also sentenced was a 23-year-old male, who cannot be named for legal reasons, after he was convicted at the same trial of possession of two terrorist documents and distributing another.

He was jailed for three-and-a-half years for the offences, to run concurrently.

A third man, also of the Royal Anglians, Private Mark Barrett, 23, of Kendrew Barracks, Cottesmore, Rutland, Leicestershire, was acquitted of membership of the banned extreme far right terrorist group, National Action. </s> Get the biggest daily stories by email Subscribe Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Could not subscribe, try again later Invalid Email

The “racist” views of an Army trainer and alleged recruiter for banned neo-Nazi group National Action do not make him a criminal, a jury has been told.

The barrister for 33-year-old Lance Corporal Mikko Vehvilainen told jurors on Wednesday it was “not in dispute that he is a racist”.

Pavlos Panayi QC said: “It is not disputed that he has written and said things which the vast majority of people will find utterly repulsive, about black people, Jews, Muslims and lots of other minority groups.

(Image: Elizabeth Cook)

“It is not disputed he has associated with other racists, men and women, from what might be called the Far Right, that might include neo-Nazis, and other different groups of people.”

But he added that while the “groundbreaking case” would test the limits of free speech and freedom of association in Britain, Vehvilainen’s actions were not criminal.

Vehvilainen and fellow Royal Anglian Regiment soldier, 25-year-old Private Mark Barrett are both on trial accused of membership of the far-right organisation, which was banned by the government in December 2016.

Also facing the same charge at Birmingham Crown Court is a 23-year-old male who cannot be named for legal reasons, but who was described in court as a “regional leader” for the group.

The jury heard how Vehvilainen had a host lawfully held weapons including “guns, knives and crossbows” which he kept at his Army accommodation in Sennybridge Camp, Powys.

Jurors were also told he had pleaded guilty to unlawfully having a canister of CS spray among those weapons.

Addressing the jury after the prosecution’s opening speech, Mr Panayi said: “In many ways this case is unprecedented because you have heard that National Action was the first far-right group to be banned since the Second World War and this is the first prosecution arising out of that ban.

“It is a groundbreaking case.”

He added: “This case will test the limits of free speech, the freedom to say what you think and the freedom to frighten, offend and discuss.”

The QC said: “You are, in the end, going to have to determine in this case where the boundary lies between L/Cpl Mikko Vehvilainen’s right to speak freely, to think what he chooses to, and associate with others who share his views and where that boundary lies.

“Whether it crosses over into the reaches of criminal law or not.”

Vehvilainen, who is married with children, is also accused of two counts of stirring up racial hatred through posts on the US-based Christogenea.org website, where he used the name NicoChristian.

He has been further charged with possessing a document likely to be of use to terrorists – a copy of white nationalist Anders Breivik’s manifesto.

Counsel for Barrett, of Dhekalia Barracks, Cyprus, where he lived with his wife and children, also told the jury the case was “not about assessing the morality of expressing prejudicial opinions all right-minded people might recoil from”.

Colin Aylott said: “Are the hallmarks of membership truly present in what he did, and how he expressed himself?

“Ask yourself – casual racist of committed fanatic?

“Because that is the issue you have to decide in this case.”

Addressing the court on behalf of the defendant who cannot be named, barrister Christopher Knox claimed National Action “did not exist” as an organisation after it was banned.

Mr Knox said of the 23-year-old: “We will submit to you that he is no terrorist.

“He was involved with National Action and he held views which he well understands you might find really distasteful, but those are views he was, and is, entitled to hold.”

The court heard that the male had made attempts to join the Army. </s> 'Neo-Nazi' leader of National Action jailed for eight years

'Neo-Nazi' leader of National Action jailed for eight years

The leader of neo-Nazi group National Action has been jailed for eight years after he was found guilty of membership of the banned group .

Christopher Lythgoe, 32, from Warrington, was sentenced at the Old Bailey. Another prominent National Action member, Matthew Hankinson, 24, was jailed for six years for membership of the group.

The far-right group was banned by the Home Secretary over its support of the murder of Labour MP Jo Cox, who was shot and stabbed to death in 2016 by neo-Nazi Thomas Mair.

The court was told that Lythgoe had regarded the death of the Batley and Spen MP in her own constituency as a "little victory".

Lythgoe was arrested by police investigating a plot to murder Labour MP Rosie Cooper and a female police officer.

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He was also accused of encouraging the murder of the West Lancashire MP, but was found not guilty.

Image: Labour MP Rosie Cooper was the target of a murder plot

The plot was foiled after whistle-blower Robbie Mullen leaked details of a meeting between members to campaigner group Hope Not Hate in July last year.

Jack Renshaw, 23, pleaded guilty to preparing to engage in an act of terrorism by buying a knife to kill the politician and threatening a police officer.

Renshaw, from Skelmersdale in Lancashire, has also been convicted of inciting racial hatred in speeches in 2016.

He was accused of being a member of National Action, but the jury failed to reach a verdict.

They also failed to reach verdicts on Andrew Clarke, 33, and Michal Trubini, 35.

Garron Helm, 24, was acquitted of the same charge.

Image: Jack Renshaw, 23, pleaded guilty to preparing an act of terrorism and threatening a police officer

Head of Investigations for Counter Terrorism Policing in the North West, detective superintendent Will Chatterton, said: "Today's result has enabled the spotlight to be shone on the sickening activities of the banned extreme right-wing organisation National Action.

"During the trial, one of those jailed today stood before the court and openly denied the Holocaust had taken place - an unimaginably horrific event that resulted in the murder of millions of Jews at the hands of the Nazi regime.

"Today's result is a body blow to extreme right-wing organisations such as National Action.

"It sends out a clear message that counter-terrorism officers and partner agencies will rigorously identify and investigate any violently extreme individual or group who seek to bring a reign of terror to our shores."

Mr Justice Jay said the group had a "truly evil and dystopian vision" to create a race war and had been kept going by Lythgoe's obsessive determination.

He said that Lythgoe "did nothing to stop or discourage" the plot to kill Ms Cooper.

The judge added that while its numbers were too small to achieve its true aims, there was a risk that the group's ideology could have inspired terror attacks.

Image: The defendants were tried at the Old Bailey

He described Lythgoe as a "fully-fledged neo-Nazi complete with deep-seated racism and anti-Semitism".

Ms Cooper, who sat in court as the men were jailed, said in a statement: "I think it's awful that any public servant - teacher, nurse, doctor, police, MP - should be targeted and threatened with violence simply because of the job they do.

"To that end, I'd like to thank Robbie Mullen, whose information saved my life.

National Action is the first extreme right-wing group to be banned by the government since World War Two and had up to 100 members at its height.

The court heard that the group planned to "wipe out" non-white people "by any means necessary".

In his sentencing, Mr Justice Jay said that National Action meetings, under Lythgoe's leadership had continued on a "modest" scale after the group was banned by then-Home Secretary Amber Rudd.

The prosecution alleged the meetings continued in pubs and a mixed martial arts gym in Warrington.

All six defendants denied being members of National Action. </s> A serving British soldier and white supremacist who kept a photo of himself giving a Nazi-style salute has been cleared of a terrorism offence.

Corporal Mikko Vehvilainen, who had a box of Nazi flags and a Hitler Youth knife in the garage of his barracks home, had been charged for allegedly possessing an "Anders Breivik manifesto", drawn up by the Norwegian far-right terrorist who killed 77 people in an attack in 2011.

The 33-year-old, who also kept a ceremonial SS dagger representing a Nazi paramilitary group, was also cleared of two counts of stirring up racial hatred relating to forum posts on a white nationalist website.

His lawyer, Pavlos Panayi QC, told jurors at Birmingham Crown Court that while it was "not in dispute that he is a racist", it was not a crime for Vehvilainen to hold such views.

But the married father, originally from Finland, did plead guilty to having a banned canister of CS gas, which he kept in the drawer of a home he was renovating.

The licensed firearms owner, who lived with his family at Sennybridge Camp in Brecon, also kept a number of legally-held weapons.

Eleven knives, knuckle-dusters and a face mask were found in the same container as the Nazi flags, and he kept a target dummy.

Following his arrest last September, police also found a Nazi flag pinned to the inside of his wardrobe door and a photograph of him giving a Nazi-style salute at a memorial to his native Finland's independence.

All items were legally held, the court heard.

Vehvilainen, who kept a licensed shotgun, a crossbow, and a bow and homemade arrows, had also written to two men jailed for race crimes.

He told the men "there is still hope".

The soldier was also found to have penned a draft of an extreme right-wing magazine he called Extinction, in which he railed against inter-race relationships, "unnatural" homosexuality and "non-whites".

Vehvilainen was on trial alongside 25-year-old Private Mark Barrett, also of the Royal Anglians, and formerly of Kendrew Barracks in Cottesmore, Rutland.

Barrett was acquitted of a separate charge of membership of the proscribed far-right organisation National Action.

A 23-year-old man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was cleared of having Breivik's manifesto, but convicted of three other terrorism offences.

He was found guilty of possession of a laptop "mega folder", which prosecutors said contained "step-by-step instructions" for killing people and the manufacture of explosives.

He was also convicted of having a terrorism document called the White Resistance Manual, which had entries on "arson, sabotage and selective assassinations", and of distributing a terrorist publication called Ethnic Cleansing Operations.

When the jury delivered their verdicts, he shouted: "It's a complete sham."

He and Vehvilainen, who are both in custody, will be sentenced on Friday. </s> A German woman has been sentenced to life in jail after being found guilty of murdering 10 people in a series of neo-Nazi attacks.

Beate Zschaepe, 43, the only surviving member of far-right group the National Socialist Underground (NSU), was convicted after a six-year trial over the deaths of 10 people, mostly migrants, between 2000 and 2007.

Eight of the victims were men of Turkish origin, one man was Greek and the other was a German policewoman.

Zschaepe was arrested in 2011, shortly after the deaths of her accomplices and former lovers, Uwe Mundlos and Uwe Boehnhardt, in an apparent murder-suicide.

The trio had formed white supremacist group, the NSU, which carried out 10 shootings and two bomb attacks, targeting migrants, mostly of Turkish origin.

Police and prosecutors failed to spot an anti-migrant link to the group's crimes, instead concentrating on victims' non-existent gangland connections.

Campaigners and lawyers for the victims' relatives have accused German authorities of covering up the size and influence of the NSU, which operated in secret for almost 14 years.

They have claimed the group even had informants in the German security services.

In Germany, those handed a life sentence typically serve 15 years behind bars as prisoners are often released for good conduct.

However, Zschaepe will not be eligible for parole as Judge Manfred Goetzl imposed the maximum sentence due to the "exceptional severity of the crime".

Ralf Wohlleben, a former member of the far-right NPD party accused of helping the NSU, was found guilty of complicity in nine counts of murder and was sentenced to 10 years in prison.

Andre Eminger, an unrepentent neo-Nazi, was acquitted of complicity but sentenced to two and a half years for backing a terrorist organisation, a verdict that was greeted with applause by supporters in the courtroom in Munich. </s> LONDON (Reuters) - Two Britons were jailed on Wednesday after being convicted of belonging to a banned white supremacist group following a trial in which another defendant had earlier pleaded guilty to plotting to kill an elected Member of Parliament (MP).

Christopher Lythgoe, 32, and Matthew Hankinson, 24, were found guilty at London’s Old Bailey Court of being members of National Action, a neo-Nazi organization that claimed a race war was imminent.

The organization was banned in 2016 after it praised the murder of Jo Cox, a female opposition Labour MP, in a frenzied street attack by a Nazi-obsessed loner, the first far-right group to be outlawed in Britain since World War Two.

At the start of the trial, defendant Jack Renshaw, 23, admitted buying a machete for the purpose of killing another Labour MP, Rosie Cooper, as well as making a threat to kill a female police officer.

Prosecutors said the aim of National Action, which was formed in 2013, was to start a race war. The group had said it wanted to free white Britain from Jewish control and the spread of ethnic minorities.

Lythgoe was its self-appointed leader and the court heard he continued to keep it active after its ban, using a makeshift gym where members could train for race war. He was jailed for eight years while Hankinson was given a six-year prison term.

The jury were unable to decide whether Renshaw or two other men had been members of National Action and cleared another suspect of the same charge, media reported.

Detective Superintendent Will Chatterton, Head of Investigations for Counter Terrorism Policing in northwest England, described the conviction of Lythgoe and Hankinson as a significant blow to National Action and its supporters.

“These individuals were not only intent on broadcasting their vile views and hate speech but were prepared to do so at whatever cost, with no regard for the people who they were openly wanting to harm,” he said in a statement.

In February, Britain’s former top counter-terrorism police officer warned that the country faced a significant threat from far-right terrorism and said four plots by right-wing extremists had been foiled in the previous year.
An unidentified civilian is jailed for three and a half years for terror offences connected to banned neo-Nazi group National Action. Acquitted Finnish national Mikko Vehvilainen, a serving soldier in the British Army, is jailed alongside him for a weapons offence, receiving 12 months.