National Action co-founder denies setting up new group, jury hears

Alex Davies, from Swansea, is accused of being a member of National Action after it was banned

A member of a banned neo-Nazi organisation has denied setting up a new group to continue the cause, a court has heard.

Alex Davies, 28, denies being a member of National Action after it was banned as a terrorist organisation in 2016.

The UK government banned it after it had "terrorised" towns across the country with its call for an "all-out race war".

The group also "celebrated" the murder of MP Jo Cox in June 2016.

Barnaby Jameson QC, prosecuting, told the trial at Winchester Crown Court that members of the group had amassed an arsenal of weapons and dressed as paramilitaries for demonstrations which featured anti-Semitic speeches and calls for "traitors to be gassed".

Following the ban, Mr Davies set up a "continuity" group in January 2017.

He was involved in organising the offshoot organisation which was initially to be called Southern Activist Network, but was later named NS131, which stood for National Socialist Anti-Capitalist Action.

Benjamin Newton, defending, told the court that Mr Davies had not intended to carry on National Action following its proscription.

"Mr Davies' case is that it was a separate organisation, not a continuation," he said.

National Action was founded in 2013 by Ben Raymond and Alex Davies (pictured)

Witness Prof Matthew Feldman, a historian and political scientist, said banning an organisation could lead to it becoming more extreme.

He said this could lead to groups becoming more violent and taking part in paramilitary and weapons training.

He also described how National Action had "popularised" the term "white jihad", which the court heard was first coined by the Daily Mail in 2013.

Prof Feldman said: "It was popularised by Nation Action - by taking the word jihad and placing the word white in front of it suggests a commitment to death."

He added that there was a distinction between fascist and neo-Nazi groups.

He said: "There is a very clear dividing line between fascists and Nazis, there are some groups who are keen to separate themselves from images such as swastikas and Hitler because of the stigma of war and genocide. "

Mr Davies denies membership of a proscribed organisation between 17 December 2016 and 27 September 2017.

The trial continues.