Your World of Legal Intelligence
 United Kingdom | +44 (0) 20 7284 8080

Edmonton Neo-Nazi police officer convicted of belonging to banned far-right terror group

Document Cited in Related
Vincent
Published date01 April 2021
Date01 April 2021
Publication titleMyLondon (England)
PC Ben Hannam, 22, of Edmonton, North London, was found guilty of being a member of the banned right-wing extremist group National Action NA following a trial at the Old Bailey today April 1.

Hannam worked 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.

The ideology of NA, which Hannam had joined in March 2016, was described in court as based on 'Aryan purity' and hatred of non-white groups, particularly Jews, and its members venerated Adolf Hitler as a 'divine figure'.

The organisation celebrated violence against these groups, including war and genocide, and was banned in December 2016, after glorifying the murder of MP Jo Cox.

For more news and features about London directly to your inbox sign up to our newsletter here .

The jury deliberated for more than 32 hours to find Hannam guilty.

He was also convicted of lying on his application and vetting forms to join the Metropolitan Police and having terror documents detailing knife combat and making explosive devices.

Hannam signed up to the Iron March forum when he joined the London branch of neo-Nazi group NA in March 2016, and in his first post on the forum he wrote that he was 'completely swayed' by NA.

The officer, who has autism, said he was 'desperate to impress' an older NA organiser who gave him free stickers and badges.

Hannam went on to try to recruit a new member via Iron March, telling him most NA guys agreed the 'Hitler was right' slogan was 'a bit too edgy' but adding: “Then again it is pretty funny and we all know our stance on the big man.”

The court heard Hannam attended an NA national conference in 2016, and met high-profile people linked to the group -including co-founder Alex Davies -in 2017.

He was filmed spray-painting the symbol for an NA alias – NS131 – in a storm drain outside Swindon in July 2017, days before he applied to join Scotland Yard, denying on his application that he had ever been a member of far-right groups.

When officers searched his bedroom last year, they...

To continue reading

Request your trial

VLEX uses login cookies to provide you with a better browsing experience. If you click on 'Accept' or continue browsing this site we consider that you accept our cookie policy. ACCEPT