The first Aussie charged with hate speech

The first Aussie charged with hate speech

A British couple who decided to pay tribute to their strong “admiration” for Adolf Hitler by naming their son after him have been found guilty of joining a banned terrorist group.

Neo-Nazi’s Adam Thomas, 22, and Claudia Patatas, 38, were found guilty by the Birmingham Crown Court of being members of the extreme white-power group National Action, which was banned in 2016.

The couple held Hitler in such a high regard that they paid tribute to him by giving their son the middle name “Adolf”.

Thomas and Patatas, from Oxfordshire, denied being leaders of the extremist group but this defence was knocked down by a series of damning family photos, many of which featured their infant son.

One picture shows Patatas holding the newborn while Thomas holds up a red flag emblazoned with a huge Nazi swastika.

In another photo, Thomas can be seen cradling his son while fully dressed in white, hooded Ku Klux Klan robes.

However, Thomas told the court that the photo of him in the robes was “just play”, The Guardian reported.

The seven-week trial ended with the couple being convicted of terrorism charges after they were found guilty of being members of the National Action.

Another man, Daniel Bogunovic, was also convicted of being a member of the group.

Three others that were arrested pleaded guilty before the trial began.

National Action was outlawed by the British government in 2016 and labelled a terrorist organisation after Labour Party member Jo Cox was murdered by a far-right extremist.

Thomas and Patatas, along with the four other men, were arrested in January and charged with being members of the terror group.

Before their arrest, Thomas worked as a security guard and Patatas was a photographer and originally from Portugal.

The court heard that the defendants “rebranded” the group and continued to attend meetings and exchange WhatsApp messages praising Nazis and the murder of Jewish people.

Thomas was also convicted of owning a terrorist manual called the Anarchist’s Cookbook that advised the reader of how to make “viable” bombs.

The 22-year-old told the court that he had a shaved head from the age of five and his stepfather was in a white power band called Skrewdriver.

Thomas admitted to the court that he was a racist but added it was “something I want to put behind me”.

Ten people have now been convicted of membership in the National Action group, including a British soldier who had served in Afghanistan.

British police say the threat from violent far-right groups is growing, with four plots foiled in the year to March.

The defendants are due to be sentenced next month.