A neo-Nazi activist who plotted to murder a Labour politician in a sword attack is a convicted paedophile who was jailed last year for trying to groom two underage boys, it can be revealed today.

Jack Renshaw, who was a member of the far-right group, National Action, before it was outlawed, admitted hatching a plan to assassinate Rosie Cooper, the MP for West Lancashire, after he was arrested on suspicion of child sex offences last year.

The 23-year-old from Skelmersdale in Lancashire, told other members of the extremist group that he had been set up by the police and left wing campaigners who wanted to discredit him.

He then sought the group's permission to take revenge by murdering the MP and also the female police officer who had arrested him.

But at a trial last year - which can only now be fully reported - Preston Crown Court heard that rather than being framed, Renshaw had in fact set up two fake Facebook profiles in order to contact the boys who were aged just 13 and 14.