Sunday Mirror (Northern Ireland)
FACES OF HATE
» Rally ‘organiser’ was jailed for kidnap plot » Anna Soubry abuser in new ‘Nazi’ rant
TWO faces of hate are at the heart of ugly pro-Brexit yellow vests protests.
Danny Thomas, who rallied supporters yesterday, did time for a “frightening” armed kidnap plot.
James Goddard, arrested over Nazi taunts at MP Anna Soubry, ranted that police had “opened a can of worms”.
A FAR-RIGHT yellow vest protester was described as “extraordinarily frightening” by a judge who jailed him for a kidnap plot.
Danny Thomas, who is bodyguard to political agitator Tommy Robinson, was given two years after three thugs tried to snatch a man at knifepoint.
The gang mistakenly believed their victim had stolen drugs worth £10,000.
Jailing them, Recorder William Mousley QC said: “This would have been an extraordinarily frightening incident.
“It was cowardly... an extremely unpleasant incident.”
Dad-of-four Thomas, 29, was jailed at Portsmouth Crown Court in 2016 after he and two others admitted attempted kidnap. They had swooped on a house in Hayling Island, Hants, telling their victim “they were £10,000 down”.
Prosecutor Robert Griffiths said: “They were all saying ‘You’re coming with us’. It seems they got completely the wrong person.”
Details of Thomas’s past came as he attended a yellow vest rally yesterday.
Fellow agitator James Goddard, 29, was arrested by police on suspicion of a public order offence in relation to an incident at Westminster last Monday.
Protesters had swarmed around Tory MP Anna Soubry and branded her a “Nazi”. Thomas, meanwhile, was seen in pictures from a London demo the day before. He was goading police, jabbing his finger and in the
thick of the action as officers tried to maintain order. Thomas has risen to prominence on the far right since being released from prison last year.
He has appeared gloating at the side of English Defence League founder Robinson, 36, who is now an adviser to UKIP leader Gerard Batten.
Thomas has also appeared with Mr Batten and travelled to Germany to campaign with anti-Islamic group Pegida.
He brands himself Danny Tommo in online videos and claims to be “reporting” on the yellow vests. He told the Sunday Mirror he had turned his life around, saying: “When I went to prison
Every now and then far-right groups crawl out from under a rock... these are no different
MP ANNA SOUBRY ON PROTESTERS WHO INTIMIDATED HER
I was away from my children. I took what I was given, I accepted what I did was wrong. I came out and all I did was make sure I bettered myself, I go to church every week.
“I support Tommy. I’m doing what’s right for me to have karma for the future.
“I did wrong, I’ve changed my life around and now I’m doing good.”
BOASTS
In social media videos he called on supporters to attend yesterday’s demo and instructed them not to put on their vests before they reach rally points.
He also has an online donations site on which he boasts of organising five demos with more than 200,000 attendees in the past year. Thomas uses the page to fund his activist lifestyle after PayPal stopped accepting payments.
Facebook has also deleted the pages of fellow far-right campaigners.
Thomas added yesterday: “I report on the yellow vests. I 100 per cent support
it, but don’t organise it. What we stand for is to make sure our children grow up in a society that is not full of hatred. I’ve got no problem with legal immigration if we are helping people from war torn countries, like we did with the Jews in World War Two.
“But people are leaving their own countries just to have the benefits of our country. UKIP is the future. We are not racist. My girlfriend’s dad comes from Iran. Throughout our movement we have black people, Sikhs, Muslims. I am not racist. I have lots of Muslim friends. I have no problem with them.”
Thomas’s pal Goddard, meanwhile, was freed by police later and given just two hours to leave the area inside the M25.
He read out the details of his bail to supporters at a pub in Holborn, London, before returning home to Leicester.
Referring to the Home Secretary and Met Police Commissioner, he said in a video posted online: “Sajid Javid is involved, Cressida Dick is involved. I have to leave the area of the M25 within two hours or they are going to put me back in there. I have to sign on at the police station every Monday and Friday.
“I have to live at home, I’m not allowed in the consitituency area of Anna Soubry or any of her workplaces or press events.”
As supporters chanted “Soubry is a Nazi”, defiant Goddard added: “I’ll just go do something in Manchester or Leicester. This is all about silencing people.” He even claimed Ms Soubry orchestrated his arrest, saying: “She is not even a member of Cabinet and she has done this – it is all her. This is gonna open up the biggest can of worms ever because of what she has done. Everyone who has ever been called a Nazi should report it to police.”
Yellow vest protesters had gatecrashed the People’s Assembly Against Austerity rally, attended by thousands in Trafalgar Square yesterday. Thomas was there – filming himself and mixing with anti-austerity campaigners.
Bottles were thrown, one man was arrested and an EU flag was burned in nearby Parliament Square.
Ms Soubry, meanwhile, branded the yellow vest movement’s leaders “racist, fascist and a threat to democracy”.
She said: “Every now and then far-right groups crawl out from whatever rock they’ve been hiding under and latch on to an issue to try and spread their views. These people are no different.”