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Two convicted on race hate charges

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Two racists have been found guilty of publishing material with the titles 'Make Niggers History'; 'Dumb Niggers, Gloating Jews' and 'Diversity = Death'.

Bigots Simon Sheppard, from Selby, North Yorks., and his co-accused Stephen Whittle, from Preston, Lancs., were charged with inciting racial hatred.

Leeds Crown Court heard during the trial that 40-year-old Sheppard controlled a website called www.heretical.com and that Whittle, 41, would write articles for it.

Prosecutor Jonathan Sandiford told the jury that Whittle wrote the pieces under the pseudonym "Luke O'Farrell" which was derived from 'Leucophile' meaning someone who likes whites.

Mr Sandiford said during the opening of the trial: "Each of the counts that this pair are linked to concerns written material that is threatening, abusive or insulting.

"The racial hatred in these publications was directed primarily at Jewish, black and Asian people in particular and non-white persons in general.

"We say that this pair were racists who held pretty extreme views about these people.

"People are entitled to be racist and hold racist and extreme right wing political opinions but they are not entitled to publish or distribute those opinions to the public either indending to stir up racial hatred.

"In this case the defendants' intention was to distribute the written material to give vent to their own personal hatred of the target groups and stir up racial hatred against them."

On Friday, Sheppard was found guilty of nine counts of publishing threatening, abusive or insulting written material with intent or that was likely to stir up racial hatred and Whittle was convicted of four counts of the same charge.

Yestoday (Monday) Sheppard was convicted of two additional charges and Whittle one after almost 24 hours of deliberation. But the jury of six men and five women could not reach verdicts on seven charges relating to Sheppard and there is likely to be a retrial on these counts.

Both defendants were on bail but failed to turn up yesterday and warrants have been issued for their arrests. A hearing to update the court on the position is scheduled for the end of July.

The court heard that Sheppard was investigated by police following complaints and when his flat was searched in March 2005 police seized a number of computers and found documents entitled: "Dumb Niggers, Gloating Jews", "Make Niggers History", "Diversity = Death" and "Rockwell, the Swastika".

When interviewed Sheppard denied that he had intended to incite racial hatred.

In the publication "Dumb Niggers, Gloating Jews" the articles refer to black people in insulting and abusive terms as 'dumb niggers' and says that the Jews have caused a problem over immigration and it cannot be solved until "We get rid of the Yid".

Whittle also says in "Hell's Bells" that black people have lower intelligence than white people, are higher in psychopathy and murder, rape and rob more than white people do.

Whittle also quotes "the late great Adolf Hitler" as pointing in the right direction when he blamed all "filth and profligacy" on the Jews.

Mr Sandiford said: "When he was interviewed in April 2006 Sheppard refused to answer questions from a female police officer saying that she was a crook and had stolen a man's job.

"He also maintained that Jews had paid all the politicians and that he held them responsible for the unhappiness in his own life. He also said that if something was bad for white people and you dig deep enough you will find that Jews are behind it.

"During his interviews Whittle admitted writing the Luke O'Farrell articles and agreed that some of his articles might be offensive but he could not see how offending someone from a minority constituted racial hatred."

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