Neo-Nazi accused ‘shared Jo Cox tweets’

THE alleged co-founder of a banned neo-Nazi group shared tweets with a convicted antisemite about the murder of MP Jo Cox days after she was killed, a court has heard.

Ben Raymond, 32, retweeted Garron Helm – a man previously jailed for sending an antisemitic message to then Labour MP Luciana Berger.

Helm was claiming “everything was going according to plan” following the murder of Ms Cox in June 2016 by far-right terrorist Thomas Mair.

Helm tweeted a picture of the front page of the Daily Mirror with the headline ‘Tragic Jo’s death sparks poll surge’, commenting: “Everything is going according to plan #Brexit #JoCox #FalseFlag.”

Raymond retweeted, adding the comment: “Who needs to stage a false flag when you can just lie without consequence?”

He is on trial at Bristol Crown Court accused of being a member of National Action after it was banned by the Government in December 2016.

Raymond is said to have set up the group in 2013 to wage a

“white Jihad” and race war in Britain, becoming its propaganda chief.

The jury was told Raymond was also linked to other convicted neo-Nazis such as Jack Renshaw, who is serving a life sentence for plotting to murder Labour MP Rosie Cooper in 2017.

The court heard that Raymond was not at a meeting in a pub in Warrington in 2017 where Renshaw plotted to murder the West Lancashire MP but was later told about it.

Barnaby Jameson QC, prosecuting, said: “It tells you the defendant was clearly looped in on a matter of extreme secrecy and significance.”

National Action was banned under terror legislation in 2016 – joining the likes of the IRA, Islamic State and al Qaida.

Raymond, of Beechcroft Road, Swindon, denies membership of a proscribed organisation contrary to Section 11 of the Terrorism Act and six counts of possessing a document or record of use to a terrorist contrary to Section 58 of the Act.

The trial continues.