Police officer convicted of being in Nazi terror group jailed for four years

Ben Hannam, 22, found guilty of being in National Action and lying about his application to join the force, will now spend time behind bars

The first British police officer to be convicted of belonging to a neo-Nazi terrorist group has been jailed for more than four years.

Ben Hannam, 22, was found guilty of membership of banned right-wing extremist group National Action (NA) in 2016 until September 2017, following a trial at the Old Bailey.

He had been working as a probationary officer for the Metropolitan Police for nearly two years before he was found on a leaked database of users of extreme right-wing forum Iron March and arrested last year.

Hannam, who pleaded guilty to possessing a prohibited image of a child, was also convicted of lying on his application and vetting forms to join the force and having two terror documents detailing knife combat and making explosive devices.

Judge Anthony Leonard QC sentenced Hannam, who was last week sacked by the Met for gross misconduct, to a total of four years and four months on Friday, with an extra one-year licence period.

“I consider what you did to be very serious and you have harmed public trust in the police by your deceit,” the judge told him.

Hannam, wearing beige chinos, a dark blue blazer, white shirt and tie showed no emotion as he was sentenced and taken down to the cells.