Pembrokeshire: James Allchurch jailed for racist podcasts

James Allchurch was found guilty on 10 counts of distributing material to stir up racial hatred

A podcaster has been jailed for two and a half years for distributing racist and antisemitic content.

James Allchurch, 51, from Pembrokeshire, denied 15 counts of distributing a recording stirring up racial hatred.

A jury at Swansea Crown Court found him guilty of 10 counts and not guilty of five.

Sentencing him, Judge Rees said the offending amounted to a "stain on our humanity".

Allchurch uploaded offensive podcasts to his website, Radio Aryan, since rebranded Radio Albion, between 2019 and 2021.

During the trial earlier this year, the jury were played fifteen episodes of the podcast which included talk about hanging black and Jewish people, as well as playing a song advocating racial segregation.

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Sentencing, Judge Rees said Allchurch "had an agenda of racial hatred" and that "it beggars belief that someone would want to speak these words at all".

"The content of these podcasts were vile. Listening to them as the jury had to was a disturbing experience," he said.

"You were bent on inciting racial hatred... you chose your words carefully to that end."

During the trial, the jury was told by prosecutor Jonathan Rees that the podcasts were "highly racist, antisemitic and white supremacist in nature".

Allchurch used the alias Sven Longshanks, a reference to King Edward I, who was also known as Edward Longshanks and was responsible for expelling Jewish people from England in 1290.

James Allchurch uploaded offensive podcasts to his website

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

The 51-year-old denied the charges against him, arguing that he did not realise some words he used were offensive, although he admitted there was "lots wrong with it".

Audio played to the jury included a song lauding Adolf Hitler, while another recording advocated racial segregation.

The podcasts were often uploaded along with inflammatory cartoons, the jury was told.

Head of the Crown Prosecution Services' Special Crime and Counter Terrorism Division, Nick Price, said: "The hateful and grotesque views that Allchurch shared on his podcast were a threat to our society, and it is right that the jury found him guilty of his crimes.

"There is no place in society for these beliefs, and the CPS will continue to prosecute all cases involving hate crime where there is sufficient evidence to do so."

Dr Lella Nouri, Associate Prof in Criminology, Sociology and Social Policy at Swansea University said the case raised a question.

"It is a particularly interesting case because it's the first time really that we've seen in Wales something that is very much on that boundary level of 'is this hate speech, is this extremism?'" she said.

"It's very, very pertinent to conversations that are happening right now.

"What happens today will hopefully set a precedent that this kind of language whether online or offline, whether on a blog or on a podcast or on social media messages is not appropriate and hopefully set some much clearer boundaries."