Nazi badge found at home of far-right terror suspect

A badge for the Nazi association for women was found at the home of a far-right terror suspect who took part in a “Miss Hitler” beauty contest, a court has heard.

Jurors trying Alice Cutter were shown a picture of the Deutsches Frauenwerk badge after her barrister referred to a “misogynistic” National Action propaganda image showing a woman being attacked.

Cutter, 22, and her 24-year-old partner Mark Jones, both of Mulhalls Mill, Sowerby Bridge, near Halifax, West Yorkshire, deny being members of National Action after it was banned by the Government in December 2016.

The court has heard Cutter entered a National Action beauty pageant in June 2016 – allegedly in an effort to attract new members to the group.

The jury was told that there was no dispute that Cutter had entered the beauty contest under the name “Buchenwald Princess” – a reference to a Nazi-era death camp at which tens of thousands of people were killed or starved.

Prosecution witness Professor Matthew Feldman – an expert on the radical right-  agreed with a suggestion by Mr Jameson that an “interview” posted by Cutter was an “echo of Nazi Germany” in its reference to “raising the next generation to be strong”.

Following the questioning of Mr Feldman, the jury of seven men and five women were shown a picture of the Deutsches Frauenwerk badge found in September 2017 at the home Cutter shared with Jones.

Garry Jack, 23, from Heathland Avenue, Shard End, Birmingham, and 18-year-old Connor Scothern, of Bagnall Avenue, Nottingham, also deny belonging to the banned organisation between December 2016 and September 2017.

Cutter refused to answer questions after several Nazi-themed items, including a flag and earrings, were found at her home.

Pictures of Cutter holding a firearm and posing beside a Nazi flag have been shown to jurors, who were told Jones and Jack had also declined to answer questions put to them by counter-terror officers.

Jones and Jack claim they were “committed and unapologetic” members of National Action but quit the organisation when it was outlawed.

Meanwhile, the court has been told, Cutter maintains she has never been a member of National Action, either before or after the ban, while Scothern claims to have quit the group a day before it was made illegal.

The Crown alleges that Jones posed for a photograph while giving a Nazi salute alongside another man in the execution room at the site of the Buchenwald camp during a trip to Germany in 2016.

Jurors were shown the photograph, featuring a National Action flag, last week.

Mr Jameson told the jury: “Buchenwald was a Nazi concentration camp that stood out, even by the standards of Nazi concentration camps, for its depravity.

“Like Auschwitz, Buchenwald is a permanent museum to honour the victims and remind the world of the horrors perpetrated in the name of Nazism.”

Mr Jameson said Cutter, who is alleged to have worn swastika-related clothing, including earrings, entered the National Action-organised beauty contest in June 2016, days after the murder of MP Jo Cox.