‘Outstanding’ soldier tried to radicalise colleagues to fight race war
Corporal who had served in Afghanistan secretly worked as a recruiter for banned neo-nazi group
A BRITISH soldier tried to radicalise fellow members of the Armed Forces and persuade them to join a neo-nazi terrorist group in order to fight a race war, it can be revealed.
Cpl Mikko Vehvilainen, 34, who served with the Royal Anglian Regiment in Afghanistan, secretly worked as a “recruiter” for the banned group National Action, which had links to the killer of Jo Cox, the Labour MP.
The married father-of-three was described by his commanding officers as an “outstanding soldier”, who had risked his life for his country. But Birmingham Crown Court heard how he was also a white supremacist who had a “long and deep-seated adherence” to racist ideology.
By the time Vehvilainen was arrested last year he had already began radicalising at least three of the other soldiers he was serving alongside.
While one of the men was thrown out of the Army and another left, it is understood one is still serving, despite the Army insisting there is no place for soldiers with extremist views.
Vehvilainen, 34, was tried alongside Alex Deakin, 24, National Action regional commander, and Mark Barrett, a fellow Royal Anglian soldier, who the court heard openly displayed a cardboard swastika on the windowsill of his barracks in Cyprus.
Barrett was acquitted of being a member of the banned terror group, but Vehvilainen and Deakin were convicted and jailed for eight years.
The convictions can only now be reported following the conclusion of another National Action trial at Birmingham Crown Court.
Fanatical neo-nazis Adam Thomas, 22, and Claudia Patatas, 38, who named their baby son after Hitler, and Daniel Bogunovic, 27, are now facing jail after being found guilty of belonging to a proscribed organisation at the end of a seven-week trial.
Thomas described how he had been influenced since childhood by his stepfather, who had been in Skrewdriver, the notorious white power rock band.
Photographs recovered from their home showed Thomas cradling his newborn son while wearing the hooded white robes associated with the Ku Klux Klan.
Joel Wilmore, 24 from Stockport, Darren Fletcher, 28, from Wolverhampton and Nathan Pryke, 27, from
‘He was an incredibly dangerous individual and a key part of the National Action strategy’
Cambridge, had all previously admitted their National Action membership.
During Vehvilainen’s trial the court heard how he had been a key part of National Action’s strategy of attempting to grow its membership within the Armed Forces.
A number of National Action members who have been convicted have tried repeatedly to join the Army without success.
Vehvilainen was living at Sennybridge Camp in Powys, Wales, when he was arrested. He had also been renovating a home that he had bought in the village of Llansilin, where the court was told he wanted to establish a whites-only stronghold.
When police searched his house they found a photograph of him giving a Nazi salute at a memorial to his native Finland’s independence, swastika bunting and other far-right paraphernalia.
Officers also uncovered a warhammer, a legally held shotgun, body armour and a makeshift target dummy which had been spray-painted black. Pavlos Panayi QC told the trial judge: “His career in the Army is over and he leaves having brought dishonour on himself and what is more, infamy.”
Following conviction, Col Graham Taylor, of the Army Personnel Services Group, said: “Far-right ideology is completely at odds with the values and standards of the Army, and whilst we are only talking about a very small number of cases we take this issue very seriously.
“We have robust measures in place, including during the recruitment process, to ensure those exhibiting extremist views are neither tolerated nor permitted to serve. Any soldier receiving a custodial sentence will be discharged from the Army.”
Det Ch Supt Matt Ward, head of the West Midlands Counter Terrorism Unit, said: “Vehvilainen’s role typified the progress that National Action wanted; he was a non-commissioned officer in the British Army with access to young men who could be radicalised and recruited into the group.
“He was an incredibly dangerous individual and a key part of the National Action strategy.”