Birmingham Man Jailed For National Action Membership
19 July 2019, 17:39 | Updated: 19 July 2019, 17:42
A self-confessed "fanatical" neo-Nazi who claimed Hitler "was right" about the Jews has been jailed for being a member of a banned far-right terrorist group.
Daniel Ward, a father-of-two, admitted being a member of the proscribed group National Action, which was banned in December 2016.
He was jailed for three years at Birmingham Crown Court on Friday, after admitting membership at a previous hearing in January.
Ward, of Highmore Drive, Birmingham, was arrested in September last year, and a later search of his home revealed air weapons, steel BB ammunition, a rifle bayonet and extreme right-wing propaganda.
After seeking out the group online in October 2016, the 28-year-old emailed its recruiters, telling them: "I consider myself fanatical in my beliefs but I stand alone in my areas.
"It's majority black and Muslim and Indian and the rest of the whites are addicts or drunks.
"As much as I've been told all my life Hitler was this and that - he was right.
"Jews and their puppets are the cause of all evil and unrest in the world."
He told them: "All I have to offer is my thirst for gratuitous violence."
Ward had been a one-time Army recruit but served for less than a month before being discharged at his own request in April 2007.
He applied to rejoin in 2013, but withdrew his application.
Prosecutors described him as having a "violent, racist mindset", pointing to internet searches for ingredients to build explosives, and an obsession with the Nazis, including Hitler's SS paramilitaries.
But just days after the Government banned the group, Ward decided to leave because he felt they were not active enough.
He told a fellow recruit they were "pissing in the wind" by "waiting for a war with the Jews which will never come in our lifetime".
Signing off, he added: "It was great while it lasted but I need to fight - good luck buddy."
However, Ward was not finished with National Action and rejoined in April 2017, calling for a focus on training in order to prepare for a "race war".
He told other members their aim should be to "cause conflicts between different groups and cause society to collapse".
At sentencing, Ward was also ordered to spend a further 10 years on licence, once released.
