James Allchurch: Podcaster called himself avowed racist as a joke - court

James Allchurch is charged with 15 counts of distributing material to stir up racial hatred

A podcaster accused of stirring up racial hatred has told a court he was joking when he called himself an "avowed racist".

James Allchurch is charged with 15 counts of distributing material to stir up racial hatred over two years.

The charges relate to recordings uploaded to his Radio Aryan website, since rebranded Radio Albion.

The 51-year-old, from Pembrokeshire, denied the podcasts encouraged hatred or racial violence.

He acknowledged using "impolite language" to describe mixed race people, and was asked at Swansea Crown Court whether they would be upset by his words.

Mr Allchurch said: "I am not speaking to them. My audience is other nationalists who at the time used similar or worse terminology."

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Judge Huw Rees asked the defendant if he accepted the public had "unfettered access" to the website hosting the recordings.

Mr Allchurch said they would have had to know the address.

"We didn't advertise anywhere that wasn't already within the nationalist community," he said.

He denied there was racial hatred within a comment that white people were "superior in most measurable ways".

The court heard Alex Davies, jailed for being a member of a banned fascist group, was a guest on his show

The jury has been played 15 episodes of the podcast, broadcast between 17 May 2019 and 18 March 2021.

In the recordings, Mr Allchurch was joined by guests including now jailed National Action co-founder Alex Davies and American neo-Nazi Daniel Kenneth Jeffries, also known as Grandpa Lampshade.

He said Davies had not been charged or convicted when he appeared.

"One of the reasons for getting Alex on the show was to help demonstrate that he was doing nothing similar in any way to what he had been doing in National Action," he said.

"He was just with us for around a dozen episodes."

Emily Baxter, defending, asked about a recording about grooming gangs in which Mr Allchurch described himself and Davies as "avowed racists".

Mr Allchurch replied: "It was just a joke. People accuse myself and others like me as racists."

He said anyone with centre-right politics was accused of being racist, "even the Conservatives".

Previously Mr Allchurch told the court he was disabled and unable to work, and spent about 12 hours a day making podcasts and maintaining his website.

He accepted donations through a bitcoin link on the website but said he did not receive a formal salary.

Mr Allchurch insisted he was not calling for the return of the British Empire in one recording.

He told the court there was "lots wrong with it" but added: "It is encouraging people to be proud of their people and to be a good representative of them."

He told the court all races had things to be proud of but confirmed he opposed multiculturalism.

"You need to have a large enough group of your own people to grow your own unique culture," Mr Allchurch said.

The jury heard about an image of people hanging from the scales of justice used to illustrate a post about grooming gangs.

Mr Allchurch said: "That is what would happen in Iran."

He told the court he "wouldn't say" he was in favour of capital punishment, adding: "But it is the biblical ideal for certain crimes."

The trial continues.