Self-confessed Hitler supporter James Allchurch has appeared in the dock at Swansea Crown Court to give evidence in his trial against inciting racial hatred from his Pembrokeshire home.
Dressed in a black suit, a dark green shirt, a dark tie, and wearing his hair tied back in a manbun, Allchurch, 50, spoke in very slow, stilted sentences in reply to his examination by counsel Emily Baxter, KC, prosecuting for the Counter Terrorism Division.
Ms Baxter spent the morning exploring Allchurch’s reasoning in preparing the podcasts which he played on his Radio Albion website. According to the Counter Terrorism Division, the 15 podcasts were made in a bid to incite racial hatred against blacks, Jews and non-whites.
She drew his attention to his reference to ‘mystery meat people’, a term he used to describe people of a mixed race. She asked him to explain its meaning.
“It’s impolite language that I haven’t used since,” he said.
“The purpose was to discourage people from creating children with no ancestors who look like them and who often get rejected by either side.”
“Were you expecting to upset or insult those groups?” asked Ms Baxter.
“Certainly not,” replied Allchurch.
“I’m not speaking to them. My audience is other nationalists who, at the time, used similar or worse terminology.”
Emily Baxter KC then asked the defendant to explain his podcast reference to black people ‘not having a system of law, and of villages attacking other villages’.
“Are you trying to be insulting?” she asked.
“I’m trying to be humorous,” he replied. “And I’m trying to provide a reference in that our system of law does not function in a way that black people do not feel prosecuted by it. Just today in the news, we were told that black children are six times more likely to be strip searched by police.
“I’m just trying to be humorous. Humour defuses situations, releases tension and makes people laugh, not hate.”
Allchurch, formerly of Gelli, Clynderwen,was asked to explain his comments concerning the way in which white people have treated slavery. His podcast referred to the way in which white people ‘put roofs over their heads, taught them how to operate machinery and how to read and write’. The podcast concluded with the words ‘We were really good to those people’.
“Are you saying that there was nothing wrong with slavery?” questioned Emily Baxter.
“Certainly not,” was Allchurch’s reply.
“White people are blamed for slavery. We blame ourselves. I think we ignored the primary source document on slavery and we just look at sensationalist work that’s put out today.”
Ms Baxter concluded her morning’s examination with reference to another of Allchurch’s podcasts which claims that a ‘grooming gang scandal’ was operated by an entire Pakistani community.
“There may be some exaggeration,” replied Allchurch, “but it was formed by brothers, cousins and uncles and the nature of being a minority means you have a close-knit community. It’s very sad, and certainly not all of them were involved.”
Ms Baxter questioned his reply.
“Do you not expect your listeners to take it literally, and refer to the whole Pakistani community?” she asked.
“No,” he replied. “They would have known that it was an exaggeration.”
Earlier in his defence, Allchurch was asked about the British far-right, neo-Nazi fascist and nationalist hate group, Patriotic Alternative, of which he was events organisers.
“We are concerned about demographic replacement and arrange visits to museums, birds of prey flight displays, traditional Morris dancing displays, visits to old churches and megaliths,” he said.
There are no racial slurs and no support for violence.”
Allchurch has been charged with 15 counts of recording and distributing audio aimed at stirring up racial hatred. The charges are alleged to have been committed between May 2019 and March 2021. He denies all charges.
The trial will resume tomorrow.
