'Badge of honour' if neo-Nazi group banned, court hears

Ben Raymond retweeted a post celebrating Jo Cox's murder, the court heard

A man who founded a neo-Nazi group told a Scandinavian associate to "take it as a badge of honour" if his own organisation were to be declared illegal, a court has heard.

Ben Raymond, 32, allegedly exchanged messages with a member of the Nordic Resistance Movement.

He claimed the authorities had "fabricated" evidence to ban National Action, Bristol Crown Court heard.

Mr Raymond, of Swindon, denies seven terror charges.

The tweet was posted days after Thomas Mair attacked Mrs Cox in her Batley and Spen constituency on 16 June.

Mr Raymond is said to have set up the group in 2013 to wage a "white Jihad" and race war in Britain, becoming its propaganda chief.

'Unfortunate civic incident'

A lengthy message to the Scandinavian man, allegedly penned by Mr Raymond, claimed National Action had been unfairly banned in response to the murder of Jo Cox by Thomas Mair in June 2016.

Mair was convicted of Ms Cox' murder in November 2016, and National Action was banned a month later.

The message described Mair as a "mental invalid" adding, "it is highly unlikely he even knew an organisation like National Action existed".

The message claimed it was" an unfortunate civic incident, not a political killing".

Raymond allegedly claimed a National Action tweet reading "Don't let this man's sacrifice go in vain" and saying Ms Cox "would have filled Yorkshire with more sub-humans" had been taken out of context and was about voting leave in the Brexit referendum.

"This provided the sole justification for the ban," the message said.

It went on to say police and politicians had "fabricated the evidence they needed and the facts did not matter".

The message read: "We all consider it our greatest duty to make the world fully regret this step and arrogant decision."

Mr Raymond, of Beechcroft Road, Swindon, denies membership of a proscribed organisation contrary to Section 11 of the Terrorism Act and six counts of possessing a document or record of use to a terrorist contrary to Section 58 of the Act.

The trial continues.