A white supremacist who was convicted of possessing thousands of images of hateful right-wing content hasn’t started his court-ordered reading of classical literature. 

Ben John, a former student from Lincolnshire was given a two-year suspended sentence in August of this year after he was found to have 67,788 documents of violent antisemitic material, including viable bomb-making instructions. 

During the sentencing hearing, John was ordered by Judge Timothy Spencer QC to be tested on his knowledge of classical books like Pride and Prejudice and A Tale of Two Cities. At the time the Judge said: “Have you read Dickens? Austen? Start with Pride and Prejudice and Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities. Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night. Think about Hardy. Think about Trollope.

“On January 4 you will tell me what you have read and I will test you on it. I will test you and if I think you are [lying to] me you will suffer. I will be watching you, Ben John, every step of the way. If you let me down you know what will happen.”

He was confronted last week by a reporter for Scout News, an email newsletter tracking the far-right, and admitted he hadn’t read the assigned books. 

Speaking from his parents house, where he lives fulltime, he told the reporter:“I don’t know how to put it,” he said. “I’ve got them. I’ve not got to grips with any of them.”

But he also insisted that he still had time to read the works, saying: “I’ve still got a month.” 

When asked where the books in question were, he said they “buried somewhere” in a box in his home. 

The advocacy group  Campaign Against Antisemitism told Scout that they found Mr. John’s sentence incredibly lenient, saying:”“Ben John left court with a mere suspended sentence and some English homework. Given his extraordinary luck, it would be astonishing if Mr John does not even do the reading assigned to him, which would serve only to prove the critics of this incredible sentence right.”