Guess What? More BNP Scum At It Again

BNP member covertly poses as policeman

Daniel Foggo, The Sunday Times

A MEMBER of the fascist British National party (BNP) has infiltrated the Metropolitan police to go on patrol as a community support officer (PCSO).

Ellis Hammond stockpiled a vast collection of racist literature, as well as illegal weapons including a CS spray, eight combat knives, a replica AK-47, a crossbow and a stun gun.

Last week he was convicted of possessing illegal weapons but the case has gone unreported until now. Hammond, 23, from Bexley, southeast London, joined the police about a year ago but lied to the routine question about BNP membership. News of Hammond's record is likely to anger residents of Eltham, southeast London, where he patrolled. Race has been a particularly sensitive issue in the area ever since Stephen Lawrence, the black teenager, was stabbed to death in 1993, sparking years of controversy over police treatment of ethnic minorities.

Hammond's covert activities came to light when post office workers intercepted his mail-ordered Cobra stun gun — an illegal device that can temporarily incapacitate victims. The police launched an investigation last December.

Officers raided his home and found the stash of weapons, the racist literature and also T-shirts, some bearing the insignia of Combat 18, the paramilitary race hate group that takes its name from Adolf Hitler's initials.

Hammond was arrested and bailed on Christmas Eve. He was then placed under surveillance by counter terrorism officers. When he offered his resignation in January it was accepted and he was charged with two firearms offences. He pleaded guilty to both offences at Bexley magistrates' court last Tuesday and was given a one- year conditional discharge.

The PCSO had no previous convictions but sailed through the police vetting process, raising concerns about the adequacy of the system.

"He did not appear to attend BNP branch meetings and the suspicion is that he was keeping a very low profile for a reason, while all the time building up his weapons arsenal," said a source close to the case.

This weekend the BNP claimed its members included dozens of police officers, despite a ban since 2004 on members of any force joining the party. Simon Darby, a BNP spokesman, said: "We have dozens of police members and that is just the ones who tell us what they do. Some of our members are quite senior, above inspector level."

The Association of Chief Police Officers (Acpo) conceded that some members will have gone undetected.

The failure of the police to bring a successful prosecution for the Lawrence killing was officially blamed on "institutionalised racism" in the force, a charge the Met has since been trying to live down.

Darby said the 2004 ban on police officers and PCSOs from being members of the BNP or the National Front — introduced after a television expos? of racism in a police training college — was unfair.

"If officers were in Hizb ut-Tahrir [a Muslim group] it would be no problem, but anyone found to be in the BNP gets hauled over the coals," he said.

Peter Fahy, chief constable of Cheshire and the Acpo spokesman on race and diversity, admitted it is likely that other BNP members are within the police.

He said: "Given the number of people who work for the police it would be naive to think there aren't one or two who are members of the BNP." But he added: "Overall I'm not aware of it having been an issue. Most staff seem to accept it [the ban].

"If we were aware of anyone who was in Hizb ut-Tahrir I think we might pretty quickly conclude that was incompatible with being a police officer."

Superintendent Martin Mitchell, from Greenwich borough, southeast London, said: "Individuals like Hammond have no place within the Metropolitan police service.

"Where we identify those who are involved in criminality, or who have opinions that conflict with our intention to provide the best quality service to all communities, we will act quickly."

Hammond refused to comment about his conviction: "The case is over and I don't want any publicity, to be honest. I don't want my name put in the paper with BNP on it because that is going to ruin my life because I don't want anyone to know. I'm going to go now because I am getting really annoyed."

For the record, this is what Hammond had stashed away:


1 CS Tear Gas Canister
1 Police style ASP retractable baton
1 pair of Metropolitan Police-issue Handcuffs
I Knuckle-Duster
8 combat knives
DVDs with Hate material on them
Various items of British National Party literature
Some Obscene material
25-30 mainly imported T Shirts from the USA bearing nazi and White Power groups symbols and with hard line racist and nazi slogans on them
4 BB Guns
1 Replica AK 47 Assault Rifle
1 Copy of the Turner Diaries (the US publication that has served as a blueprint for nazi terrorism in the USA)
A British National Party membership card