A man accused of being a “fanatical” neo-Nazi terrorist allegedly posed for a photo with his newborn baby while wearing the hooded white robes of the Ku Klux Klan (KKK), a court has heard.
Adam Thomas, 22, and his partner Claudia Patatas, 38, gave their child the middle name Adolf, which the prosecution has alleged was in honour of Nazi leader Adolf Hitler.
Jurors at Birmingham Crown Court were for the first time on Monday shown the image, along with another photo showing Thomas holding a swastika flag next to a smiling Patatas, who is holding their baby in the couple’s lounge.
Thomas and Patatas, of Waltham Gardens, Banbury, Oxfordshire, are on trial accused of being members of the far-right terrorist group National Action, which was banned in December 2016.
A host of Nazi and far-right memorabilia, and National Action flags, badges and banners, were found at the couple’s home, as well as what prosecutors described as an “extensive” collection of weapons, including crossbows, an axe and knives.
Thomas faces a separate charge of having a terrorist document, the Anarchy Cookbook, which contained bomb-making instructions.
Jurors previously heard that Fletcher, 28, of Kitchen Lane, Wednesfield, Wolverhampton, previously admitted membership of National Action and was a “close friend” of Thomas.
Describing another image, said to show Thomas in the hooded robe with his child, the prosecuting barrister said: “The suggestion is that is Mr Thomas and his child, whose middle name is Adolf.”
Turning to an image of a hooded man with a machete, he added: “There is a strong inference, and you’ll appreciate this when you look inside the Thomas and Patatas house, that that was taken inside their home, and that the person in the robes was Thomas.”
Two cushions bearing the swastika were found during police searches of the couple’s home after their arrest for alleged terrorism offences in January.
It emerged in court that counter-terrorism officers from Prevent had visited the couple’s home in October last year “due to concerns Ms Patatas may be involved in the extreme right wing”.
The Crown’s case is that the group was still National Action in all but name, and went through a “rebranding” exercise to evade scrutiny by the authorities.
“They were fanatical, highly motivated, energetic, closely linked and mobile.
All three defendants deny wrongdoing and the trial, set to last four weeks, continues.
