Scottish neo-Nazi mother and daughter jailed over ‘deeply disturbing’ racist content

Hannah Craughwell, 27, of Gilmerton, Edinburgh, who used the online moniker “Hannah Hitler”, called Jewish people “the devil’s children” and distributed posters publicising a neo-Nazi white power film. 

She wrote on one extremist chat site: “I am disappointed Hitler never killed six million even though there wasn’t that many Jews at that time.”

[Missing Credit]Hannah Craughwell (Credit: Facebook)

Both Holocaust deniers, the pair also both claimed that Israel was responsible for the 9/11 terror attack and for the Covid-19 pandemic.

After raiding her home last year, police discovered Shirley Craughwell had a Telegram account where she posted thousands of extremist comments. She used emoji in the shape of the Nazi salute along with the number 88, which is widely used by white supremacists as numerical code for “heil Hitler”, with the number eight corresponding to the eighth letter of the alphabet

Calling for unity of the white race, she claimed to be a “proud racist”, that the Scottish borders are “flooded by n*****s” and that the police “are run by Judean.” She also operated a Facebook page under the pseudonym “Goyim AH” where she published racist memes and web links.

Simon Collins, a lawyer acting for Shirley Craughwell, said his client “expressed remorse and accepts responsibility” for her offending.

In sentencing Shirley Craughwell, Sheriff Charles Walls said the “level of hatred, racism and antisemitism expressed by you is deeply disturbing.”

Walls stated that her repeatedly espousing admiration for Adolf Hitler and other Nazis, and calling for another Holocaust, was “not just offensive, they are violent and threatening in relation to people of the Jewish faith.”

[Missing Credit]Shirley Craughwell (Credit: Facebook)

Walls said that involving her daughter in the offences was a “significant aggravating [factor]” and handed down a 20-month custodial sentence.

Hannah Craughwell was jailed for 16 months. Walls noted that she  made continued attempts to “minimise” her offending, but made “racist, antisemitic, transphobic and homophobic” comments online and distributed “highly inflammatory” leaflets in public.

Richard Souter, representing Hannah Craughwell, claimed she had “gone down a wormhole” of conspiracy theories on the internet and had been “socially isolated” and suffered poor mental health during Covid.