‘Neo-nazi’ pair named baby after Hitler, court told
A COUPLE accused of membership of a banned extreme far-right terrorist group named their baby after Adolf Hitler, a court heard.
Adam Thomas, 22, and Claudia Patatas, 38, gave their child the middle name Adolf, which the prosecution alleged was in honour of the Nazi leader.
The Crown also claimed the couple were pictured at home with another man, a convicted racist and “vehement Nazi”, who was holding a swastika flag and performing a Hitler-style salute over their baby.
Mr Thomas and Ms Patatas, both of Banbury, Oxon, are on trial at Birmingham Crown Court accused of being members of the group National Action.
Daniel Bogunovic, 27, of Leicester, also faces the same charge.
Barnaby Jameson, prosecuting, told jurors yesterday all three defendants were alleged members of National Action – a group “so extreme and violent” it was banned by the Government in December 2016.
He said the case was about a “terror spread by a small cell of fanatics”, built on a racist ideology and warned jurors they would find much of the evidence “upsetting and disturbing”.
The barrister added the case would detail the “hate crime committed by National Action members and the ruthlessness with which they were prepared to spread terror”.
Mr Jameson said Mr Bogunovic and Mr Thomas had a “particular interest” in machetes, and that bomb-making instructions were found on the second man’s computer. Referring to the couple’s child, he told jurors: “The Crown can tell you that one of his middle names was Adolf.”
He added: “Given that the child was born almost a year after National Action was banned, you may think the use of the name ‘Adolf’ – even as a middle name – was of significance.”
Thomas also stands accused of having a terrorist document.
Patatas, Thomas and Bogunovic deny all the charges. The trial, expected to last four weeks, continues.