Police probe 'vigilante firebomb' attack on home of man named on BNP list



A self-employed businessman whose name appeared on the leaked BNP membership list is believed to have been the intended target of vigilantes after a car was fire-bombed outside his house.

Jonathan Senior, 26, who was a member of the far-right party until last year, was away from home when a vehicle belonging to his next door neighbour was set alight on Thursday evening.

The father-of-one was among 13,500 named on a list of members belonging to the BNP as of last year which was leaked on the internet and details occupations, phone numbers and email addresses.

A police officer stands at the site of a suspected firebomb in a car near to the home of a former British National Party (BNP) member

Those identified on the list also include teachers, ministers of religion, doctors, nurses, two solicitors, members of the armed forces, several 'government employees' and a small number of police officers.

One serving officer from Merseyside police has since been suspended from duty pending an investigation as the law forbids them from belonging to the BNP.



Mr Senior said he was on holiday when he received a telephone call from his sister-in-law telling him that a car had been fire-bombed in the street where he lives in Liversedge, West Yorkshire.

'I'm not a member of the BNP,' he said. 'I was last year but I let my membership lapse.



'As you can imagine I'm pretty worried about what has happened as I have a young son.

'I heard about the list being published on the internet but I didn't think it would affect me because I'm a lapsed member so it was an awful shock when I heard what had happened.

'My membership of the BNP was never a secret. It's just the political views I hold. I'm not racist either, it's got nothing to do with colour.

'I joined the BNP because of local politics when I lived in nearby Heckmondwike. At the time there were a lot of attacks carried out by Asian youths.

'There are still some streets you can't walk down without being attacked if you are white. But after I moved from Heckmondwike there seemed no point of being a member of the BNP so I let it lapse.'

Mr Senior described the 'out-dated' list as dangerous and said he was now considering moving to protect his family.

Police are now investigating the motive for the attack but say that Mr Senior's inclusion on the BNP list is one of many lines of investigation.

Firefighters and police were called to the address at 10.40pm and found a Peugeot 206 engulfed by flames. No one was hurt, said a spokesman.

Eight houses on Eighth Avenue, in Liversedge, were cordoned off by police tape yesterday morning whilst two uniformed police officers stood by the cordon at either end of the road.

Firebomb: Police are investigating the burning of a car near the home of a BNP member

A charred patch of debris was also visible on the road and path outside one of the red brick semi-detached houses.

One resident, who did not want to be named, said the car belonged to her female next-door neighbour, and not Mr Senior.

'I was just nodding off when I heard this boom,' she said. 'I looked out of the window and the car was on fire.

'My kids slept through it so I got them up, we jumped out of the back and ran.

'I honestly thought it was my house. I thought someone had thrown something through my window.'

She added: 'There was nothing left of the car. The roof was blown off, the windscreen was blown off, there were bits of car in my garden and bits of car in next door's garden.'

Andrew Purdy, who lives on Eighth Avenue, said he was watching television when he heard the explosion.

'I looked outside and couldn't see anything except black smoke.



'There were flames coming out of the car. It was like a baked bean can, splattered all over. The windscreen was in front of my house.'

The attack comes after Pc Steve Bettley, of Merseyside Police, was suspended as an investigation was launched into how his name appeared on the list.

The officer, who returned home early from a holiday, once worked for a temporary six-week period as personal driver for the force's chief constable, Bernard Hogan Howe.

Liversedge is a small town just outside Huddersfield in West Yorkshire. A car was set alight in a suspected firebomb attack on a BNP member there

Officers are banned from joining or promoting the BNP because it would damage race relations, according to the Association of Chief Police Officers (Acpo).

The BNP list, which was removed from the original blog where it was posted, but remains available on other websites, names a number of current and former servicemen, along with ex-policemen.

BNP members first blamed former party staff for the leak, but later took the line that it was a plot hatched by Labour supporters.

Leader Nick Griffin pledged to take court action against those behind the leak, but he welcomed the wave of publicity that was generated.

David Exley, Kirklees organiser for the BNP, said he was 'shocked and surprised' about the incident.

He said: 'I've spoken to the police and they have confirmed that a car was fire-bombed and that one of the lines of inquiry is the person who lives next door to whose car it was is on the list on the internet.

'I can confirm that the gentleman confirmed, whose house the car was outside, is not a member of the BNP and is not a current supporter of the BNP.'

Mr Exley said it was disgraceful that the list had been published.

'That list covers everybody who has ever contacted our head office for whatever reason,' he added.