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A teenager from Arnold became disillusioned with banned terror group National Action because it wasn’t “family-friendly”, a court has heard.

Jurors heard that Connor Scothern, 18, had also moved away from supporting Adolf Hitler because he felt he was "problematic".

National Action was declared a terror group in December 2016 after Labour MP Jo Cox was killed by a far-right fanatic in June that year.

Scothern, of Bagnall Avenue, is on trial at Birmingham Crown Court charged with belonging to the terror group.

The court heard on Monday, April 8, that he continued to message other National Action members after the ban because he was "lonely”.

Prosecutor Naomi Parsons said: “Scothern was 15 when he joined National Action.

“He got involved through arguing with people online. He started looking into politics and had right wing views.

(Image: SWNS)

“He liked the imagery of National Action and the edginess of their message.

“He emailed [convicted National Action member] Christopher Lythgoe, who told him to set up a Tutanota email account.

“He watched videos about Hitler and the Jews and argued with Lythgoe about them.

“Scothern wanted to feel like part of the group family. He did not have many friends and suffered from anxiety. They gave him books to read.

“Over time, it became his life. He was never given a membership card. It was never that formal.

“He described himself as a Nazi, but never considered himself a white supremacist.

“Being a member involved stickering and leafleting. Scothern only put stickers on lampposts, not anywhere where they could be targeted against specific communities.

(Image: SWNS)

“He had been de-radicalising himself. He considered himself a national socialist up until January 2018.

“He did not want National Action to carry on as it was getting him into trouble. He bagged all the National Action material he had and got rid of it or burned it.

“Scothern said they kept in contact as autonomous activists, not National Action members.

“He recalled one meeting post-proscription when he decided he did not want to be part of it anymore.

“He had started going to college and his best friend now is mixed race.

“Scothern wanted a more family-friendly, watered-down version of National Action, one who saw past Hitler who had become a problematic figure.

“He posted because he was bored and he had nothing else to do. He said he stayed in the chat group because he did not know anyone else and was lonely.

“He did not want them to think he had betrayed them. He said he was brainwashed into thinking tolerance and homosexuality were Jewish things.”

Scothern is on trial with Mark Jones, 24, Garry Jack, 23 and Alice Cutter, 22.

They all deny being members of National Action after it was proscribed by the Government.

The court also heard police seized a Samsung phone and laptop from Jones which were programmed with the password ‘white revolution’.

He claimed he was being “framed” when he was arrested last September along with his fiancée Cutter at their home in Sowerby Bridge, Halifax, West Yorks.

(Image: SWNS)

Jurors have previously heard Cutter entered a Miss Hitler beauty contest and were shown photographs of her in front of a Nazi swastika flag.

More snaps also showed a heavily made-up Cutter holding holding a gun.

The trial was adjourned at lunchtime on Monday after Cutter became unwell.

Proceeding