Neo Nazi couple who named their baby after Hitler are convicted

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By VT

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Adam Thomas and Claudia Patatas were convicted at Birmingham Crown Court this week, after the law became aware that they were members of National Action, a far-right neo-nazi organisation that operates in the United Kingdom. The couple, from Banbury, Oxfordshire, were also known to have named their baby after Adolf Hitler.

Adam, 22, and his 38-year-old partner Claudia, were charged with being members of the "extreme and violent" group National Action, which was banned in 2016.

It was the first far-right group to be proscribed as a terrorist organisation since the British Union of Fascists in the 40s, and was described by Home Secretary Amber Rudd as "a racist, anti-Semitic and homophobic organisation which stirs up hatred, glorifies violence and promotes a vile ideology".

[[imagecaption|| Credit: West Midlands Police]]

The seven-week trial also revealed that they had given their son the middle name of Adolf to honour the Nazi leader, and posed for photos with him wearing Klu Klux Klan robes. There was also photos of Thomas wearing a KKK hood, posing in front of a confederate flag, holding a machete, on top of a sofa adorned with swastika cushions.

Thomas claimed that the photograph of him holding his child while wearing KKK robes was “just play”. “They were not put up on some website or used to promote some agenda or ideology,” he insisted. Patatas, meanwhile, had written "all Jews must be put to death" on Whatsapp, along with other messages.

"That was entertaining to me at the time," Adam said of the racist and anti-Semitic remarks he had sent in chat groups. "It was funny, at the time.”

[[imagecaption|| Credit: West Midlands Police]]

Daniel Bogunovic was also convicted of being a member of National Action, and was supposedly a leading figure in the organisation’s Midlands chapter. Bogunovic had a previous conviction from early 2018, for stirring up racial hatred at Aston University in Birmingham.

Thomas, was also convicted of owning 'The Anarchist's Cookbook', which contains instructions on making explosives. When he was asked whether he was a racist, Adam said "yes," before adding: “It is something I do not tend to think about any more, something I want to put behind me.”

[[twitterwidget||https://twitter.com/bbcemt/status/1049699940379824128]]

The 22-year-old explained that his stepfather was in a "white power band," his grandfather has "a positive view of Hitler and the Nazis," and his great-grandfather was a supporter of the British Union of Fascists. During his school years, he had come to the attention of the Prevent counter-radicalisation programme, which took him to visit a Holocaust survivor.

National Action are said to have simply "shed one skin for another" and "rebranded", with the couple working with the organisation under a different name. “It won’t go away,” Matt Ward of the West Midlands counter-terrorism unit said. “The shared ideology of neo-Nazism exists across Europe."

Ward explained that their followers would attempt to hide by changing the name of the group, emphasising it as a significant threat to Britain's national security.

Neo Nazi couple who named their baby after Hitler are convicted

vt-author-image

By VT

Article saved!Article saved!

Adam Thomas and Claudia Patatas were convicted at Birmingham Crown Court this week, after the law became aware that they were members of National Action, a far-right neo-nazi organisation that operates in the United Kingdom. The couple, from Banbury, Oxfordshire, were also known to have named their baby after Adolf Hitler.

Adam, 22, and his 38-year-old partner Claudia, were charged with being members of the "extreme and violent" group National Action, which was banned in 2016.

It was the first far-right group to be proscribed as a terrorist organisation since the British Union of Fascists in the 40s, and was described by Home Secretary Amber Rudd as "a racist, anti-Semitic and homophobic organisation which stirs up hatred, glorifies violence and promotes a vile ideology".

[[imagecaption|| Credit: West Midlands Police]]

The seven-week trial also revealed that they had given their son the middle name of Adolf to honour the Nazi leader, and posed for photos with him wearing Klu Klux Klan robes. There was also photos of Thomas wearing a KKK hood, posing in front of a confederate flag, holding a machete, on top of a sofa adorned with swastika cushions.

Thomas claimed that the photograph of him holding his child while wearing KKK robes was “just play”. “They were not put up on some website or used to promote some agenda or ideology,” he insisted. Patatas, meanwhile, had written "all Jews must be put to death" on Whatsapp, along with other messages.

"That was entertaining to me at the time," Adam said of the racist and anti-Semitic remarks he had sent in chat groups. "It was funny, at the time.”

[[imagecaption|| Credit: West Midlands Police]]

Daniel Bogunovic was also convicted of being a member of National Action, and was supposedly a leading figure in the organisation’s Midlands chapter. Bogunovic had a previous conviction from early 2018, for stirring up racial hatred at Aston University in Birmingham.

Thomas, was also convicted of owning 'The Anarchist's Cookbook', which contains instructions on making explosives. When he was asked whether he was a racist, Adam said "yes," before adding: “It is something I do not tend to think about any more, something I want to put behind me.”

[[twitterwidget||https://twitter.com/bbcemt/status/1049699940379824128]]

The 22-year-old explained that his stepfather was in a "white power band," his grandfather has "a positive view of Hitler and the Nazis," and his great-grandfather was a supporter of the British Union of Fascists. During his school years, he had come to the attention of the Prevent counter-radicalisation programme, which took him to visit a Holocaust survivor.

National Action are said to have simply "shed one skin for another" and "rebranded", with the couple working with the organisation under a different name. “It won’t go away,” Matt Ward of the West Midlands counter-terrorism unit said. “The shared ideology of neo-Nazism exists across Europe."

Ward explained that their followers would attempt to hide by changing the name of the group, emphasising it as a significant threat to Britain's national security.