THE HATE MACHINE

0 Comments | Sunday Herald, The, Jul 2, 2000 | by words Neil Mackay, Home Affairs Editor

David Copeland is portrayed as a lone bomber, yet mounting evidence suggests a far-right conspiracy may be behind his crimes LAST April was a busy period for Nazi terrorists in Britain. It wasn't just David Copeland - the nail bomber now serving six life terms for his lethal attacks on London's black and gay communities - who planned a campaign of murder and mayhem across the UK. At least three, and possibly four or five, other men linked to far right extremist organisations were also embarked on racist bombing campaigns.

In Chichester an Asian store was fire-bombed by a group linked to the far right. The bedsit of Stuart Kerr, the man convicted, was almost identical to Copeland's, with newspaper cuttings about race crime and Nazism pinned to the walls. Kerr was sent to jail for 12 years. Police intelligence believe Kerr did not act alone.

Police in Chesterfield also stumbled upon a plot to bomb local May Day celebrations around the same time that Kerr was bombing Asian shops. A stolen car was stopped and found to be filled with explosives after two men fled the scene. Police intelligence are sure this was a planned attack by rightwingers. Nobody has ever been caught. And in west London, police made a find of rudimentary bomb- making equipment and right-wing literature and jailed one man. Coincidence? Not according to Scotland Yard's Anti-Terrorist Squad. One very senior ATS source said that it was beyond comprehension that these three incidents were not related in some way to Copeland's bomb attacks in London.

"The more we think about these incidents in the light of what Copeland was doing, the more we are sure that this is more than just coincidence. In a country like the UK, one bomb in a month is an exception - but four in a four-week period? The odds are against that."

Does this imply that David Copeland was not acting alone? Without question Copeland built and planted the bombs himself - he had no physical accomplice. But did others know what he was planning? Was there a decision, somewhere within the ranks of the far right, to begin a campaign against Britain's ethnic minorities, our gay community and the left wing? The question that needs to be answered is: was Copeland directly inspired by others to begin his terror campaign? If so, behind the London bombings was a conspiracy within the extreme right-wing, not a mere lone Nazi.

Despite ATS sources hinting heavily towards some kind of conspiracy, Scotland Yard is rigidly sticking to its line that Copeland acted alone. Initially, the Metropolitan Police said Copeland not only acted alone, but that he was also not a member of any recognised right wing organisation. They were wrong. Copeland was a member of the BNP and also the National Socialist Movement - a splinter group of the extreme right wing terror organisation Combat 18, sometimes described as C-18's political wing. Copeland lied to the police about his membership of Nazi groups. He claimed he knew no- one in C-18, when in fact his organisation worked hand in glove with them. Did Copeland also lie when he said "I did them (the bombings) on my own"?

BNP and C-18 sources, as well as anti-fascist groups and police sources have detailed Copeland's passage through these right-wing organisations for the Sunday Herald. Initially, he was nothing more than an unremarkable Nazi. He joined the BNP in 1997, attending branch meetings in the Newham area. Newham is the stomping ground of Tony Lecomber, number three in the BNP, and a man convicted of a violent assault on Jews and a 1987 nail bombing, as well as possession of grenades and detonators.

Copeland rose to become a BNP steward at the party's annual rally in 1997. This was no isolated loner. Copeland was a man in the midst of growing revolutionary movement. The current BNP leader Nick Griffen says Copeland resigned because the BNP wasn't paramilitary. That is true. As a group it isn't paramilitary, but the BNP is a broad church, including those who devote themselves to ultra-violent racist attacks and who share membership with organisations such as C- 18.

Copeland shifted to the National Socialist Movement - an extremely hardline organisation which advocates racial violence. Run by three men, Steve Sargent, the brother of Charlie Sargent, a convicted killer and one of the former leaders of C-18; Tony Williams, a former close friend of current BNP leader Nick Griffen; and David Myatt, a champion of immediate race war. At least one NSM member is suspected of the murder of elderly CND activist Hilda Murrell. Copeland came under the tutelage of Williams, and shortly after joining, in February 1999, he was promoted to regional organiser for Hampshire. By that time he was already beginning to buy his bomb-making equipment. The plot had been hatched.

Once Copeland was arrested on May 1, Williams almost immediately decided to disband the NSM - which has around 100 to 150 members. By the middle of the month the organisation was up and running again with Sargent now at the helm. The NSM were openly describing Copeland as a hero. Sargent has now taken to signing his letters with the phrase "Together we can Cope the Land" under the nom de guerre Albion Wolf.