Man who posted racist abuse was member of banned far-right group

A MEMBER of the now-banned neo-Nazi group National Action has been jailed for four years and three months for posting racist and anti-Semitic messages, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has confirmed.

Wayne Bell, 37, posted an image on a Russian social media site showing a man being hung by a rope with a Star of David on his forehead, the CPS said.

In another post he described Jewish people as “destructive” and “vile”.

Prosecutors said Bell was also behind hate-filled graffiti.

A CPS spokesman said that Bell, from Castleford, West Yorkshire, posted in August 2016, “The only way,” below a photo of a police officer’s foot raised above the head of an unarmed black man, who is lying on the ground.

He said that in late 2016 Bell posted a number of messages on Twitter continuing his campaign of stirring up hatred against Jewish and black people.

Bell was a prominent member of the National Action far-right group before it was banned 18 months ago and he featured in two posters used in a recruitment campaign.

The spokesman said 13 vid- eos were found on Bell’s mobile phone and featured an unseen man – believed to be Bell – directing others who were daubing anti-Semitic graffiti, including swastikas and references to the Holocaust.

Bell pleaded guilty at Leeds Crown Court to two counts of stirring up racial hatred and three counts of possession of items with intent to destroy or damage property. Last year he was sentenced to 30 months in prison after clashes between members of National Action and anti-fascist groups in Liverpool in February 2016.