Britain First leader Paul Golding has been charged under the Terrorism Act after refusing to give police access to his phone when he was arrested on the way home from Russia.

The 38-year-old was stopped at Heathrow Airport in October on his way back from a trip to the Russian Parliament in Moscow by officers from the Met's Counter Terrorism Command.

Golding, who heads up the far-right political group, refused to give the pin codes for a number of his electronic devices and was later charged with refusing to comply with a duty under Schedule 7 of the act.

He is due to appear at Westminster Magistrates Court on Friday.

Paul Golding has been charged under the Terrorism Act after refusing to give police access to his phone

In a statement Golding said he was not a terrorist and described the charges as 'an abuse of legislation'.

Schedule 7 allows police to interrogate, search and detain anyone for up to six hours at UK ports.

It is designed to determine whether an individual is involved in the 'commission, preparation or instigation' of acts of terrorism.

In September the group was slammed after Golding joined Britain First activists on a 'patriot migrant patrol' at a beach near Dover to catch migrants crossing the channel.

Kent Police undated handout photo of far-right group Britain First leader Paul Golding who was found guilty at Folkestone Magistrates' Court in 2018 of religiously-aggravated harassment.

The group, pictured during their patrol, reportedly says it would alert police and the Coastguard to crossings

The far-right group said it sent people on the lookout for desperate migrants who risk their lives to get to Britain from France.

They shared pictures of their 'patriot migrant patrol' at the beach in Dover, in Kent, on its website, saying: 'Equipped with torches, binoculars and hi-vis jackets, our activists patrolled the beach keeping a close eye out for migrant crossings.'

This is while in May last year Golding was also caught on tape admitting to violently attacking his former deputy.

Golding was heard on a documentary admitting to assaulting Jayda Fransen, who was also in a relationship with him after she joined the party in 2014.

Jayda Fransen, former deputy leader of far-right group Britain First (pictured here in 2018), can be heard in the recording challenging Paul Golding

The recording was made in 2015, and in it Fransen repeatedly challenges Golding about the attacks, which he never denies.

In one, the pair can be heard discussing an attempted assault that he had carried out earlier in the day.