Image copyright PA Image caption Jayda Fransen (left) and Paul Golding (right) had denied religiously-aggravated harassment

The leader and deputy leader of far-right group Britain First have been found guilty of religiously aggravated harassment.

Paul Golding, 36, and Jayda Fransen, 32, were arrested over the distribution of leaflets and posting of online videos during a gang-rape trial.

Fransen was convicted of three counts of religiously aggravated harassment. Golding was found guilty of one charge.

Both were jailed at Folkestone Magistrates' Court.

Fransen was handed a 36-week sentence and Golding 18 weeks.

During their trial in January, the court heard they had targeted homes and people in Kent whom they believed were connected to a rape trial at Canterbury Crown Court where three Muslim men and a teenager were convicted of rape and jailed.

The pair, both from Penge in south-east London, were arrested in May last year.

'Hostility' towards Muslims

They denied a total of seven counts of harassment.

Judge Justin Barron threw out three of the charges, while Fransen was found guilty of three and Golding of one.

He told the court the pair were "well-known", "controversial" and "generate their own publicity", but his verdict was based "solely on admissible evidence heard in court".

He said their words and actions "demonstrated hostility" towards Muslims and the Muslim faith.

"I have no doubt it was their joint intention to use the facts of the case [in Canterbury] for their own political ends.

"It was a campaign to draw attention to the race, religion and immigrant background of the defendants."

Both Fransen and Golding were convicted on a joint charge of religiously aggravated harassment after an incident last May at 555 Pizza takeaway in Ramsgate, when Fransen banged on the windows and doors of the shop and screamed "paedophile" and "foreigner".

However, in each case, they instead targeted innocent members of the public.

They filmed the abuse and then released it on social media and through the Britain First website.

They also posted offensive leaflets through the letterboxes of houses in the area where the defendants lived.

Image copyright PA Image caption Paul Golding and Jayda Fransen arrived at the court with Britain First supporters

Giving evidence, Fransen had denied being a racist and said she had carried out campaigns against people accused of sex offences, while Mr Golding told the court he had often acted as her cameraman.

Fransen was convicted of abuse after visiting a house she wrongly believed to be the current address of Sershah Muslimyar, a defendant in the trial.

She was also convicted of visiting the Kent home of another defendant, Tamin Rahmani, and shouting racist abuse through the front door while his pregnant partner Kelli Best was there.

During sentencing Fransen spoke over the judge, saying: "This is a very sad day for British justice. Everything I did was for the children of this country and they are worth it."

As Britain First supporters left the courtroom they hurled abuse at court staff and members of the press, shouting "no surrender".</s>The leaders of far-right extremist group Britain First have been jailed for anti-Muslim hate crimes after targeting people they incorrectly believed were involved in an ongoing rape trial.

Paul Golding and Jayda Fransen, both of Beeches Close in Penge, were convicted on several counts of religiously-aggravated harassment following a trial at Folkestone Magistrates’ Court, which heard their actions could have caused rapists to walk free.

Fransen was sentenced to 36 weeks imprisonment and Golding for 18 weeks by a judge who said their crimes were "deliberately planned against targeted victims".

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Judge Justin Barron said their words and actions “demonstrated hostility” towards Muslims and Islam, adding: “I have no doubt it was their joint intention to use the facts of the case for their own political ends.

"It was a campaign to draw attention to the race, religion and immigrant background of the defendants."

The judge said the court had received a number of emails both in the defendants’ support and against them, but the verdict was based ”solely on admissible evidence heard in court”.

Golding, 36, was convicted of one count of religiously aggravated harassment and acquitted on two others.

His deputy, 31-year-old Fransen, was found guilty of three counts of the same offence and cleared of one.

They were arrested in May after distributing leaflets and posting of videos during a rape trial at Canterbury Crown Court, where three Muslim men and a teenager were later convicted and jailed.

In one incident, Fransen went to the home of one of the defendants, Tamin Rahmani, and shouted racist abuse through the front door.

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His pregnant partner Kelli Best was alone with their two children, aged three years and 18 months, at the time of the incident on 9 May.

In a video played in court, Fransen could be seen banging on the door and shouting: “Come out and face me you disgusting rapist, come on.”

Prosecutors said it was one of several incidents of Fransen and Golding “filming and harassing people” they incorrectly believed were involved in the trial.

“In each case, they instead targeted innocent members of the public,” a spokesperson for the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said.

“They filmed the abuse and then released it on social media and through the Britain First website.

“They also posted offensive leaflets through the letterboxes of houses in the area where the rape trial defendants lived.”

Fransen denied all charges and claimed she did not use the phrase “Muslim bastards”, or say that all Muslims are rapists.

Golding also denied the charges and said he was only acting as Fransen's cameraman.

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Their actions endangered the trial of three men and a 17-year-old boy who were jailed in September for raping a drunk 16-year-old girl who had asked them for directions, after taking her to a flat above a kebab and pizza restaurant in Ramsgate.

Jaswant Narwal, from the CPS, said: “The prosecution case demonstrated these defendants were not merely exercising their right to free speech but were instead aiming religiously-aggravated abuse at innocent members of the public.

“The victims suffered the distress of the abuse followed by additional stress when the footage was uploaded to the internet.

“This offending also related to an ongoing criminal trial and the actions taken by Fransen and Golding could easily have derailed the justice process.”

The “campaign” was one of a series of similar stunts by Britain First, which selectively highlights crimes it believes to be convicted by defendants from Muslim backgrounds.

The group gained international notoriety when Donald Trump shared several of Fransen’s Twitter posts last year, sparking a diplomatic row after Theresa May condemned the action.

Both Fransen and Golding have since been banned from Twitter in a crackdown on extremism and hate speech, but Britain First continues to have a large following on Facebook, were its official page is “liked” by more than 2 million people.

They are due to stand trial in Northern Ireland next month over separate allegations of inciting hatred at the “Northern Ireland Against Terrorism” rally in Belfast.

Britain First was attempting to use their imprisonment to recruit supporters and further its narrative of being victimised by authorities for "free speech".

The group quoted Fransen as calling Wednesday a "sad day for British justice", with a spokesperson claiming her and Golding's only crime is "loyalty".

Britain First, which started as a splinter group from the British National Party, is believed to have fewer than a hundred active members.

It has forged links with extreme nationalist movements across Europe, seeing Fransen attend a march in Poland where she called Islam a “cancer moving through Europe”, adding: “Our children are being bombed, our children are being groomed and our government does nothing.”

The Finsbury Park terror attacker, Darren Osborne, read Britain First posts before his attempted massacre of Muslim worshippers, while neo-Nazi Thomas Mair repeatedly shouted the group’s name while murdering Labour MP Jo Cox.

Britain First is among the organisations perpetuating the idea of a cultural “war against Islam”, a report found last week after police revealed that four far-right and 10 Islamist terror plots have been foiled in the last year.

“Fascist organisations are growing, particularly when mainstream politicians such as Trump and others in Europe ape far right rhetoric,” said Weyman Bennett, joint secretary of Unite Against Fascism. “It is high time that they be held responsible for hate speech."

Additional reporting by PA</s>The leader and deputy leader of far-right group Britain First have been found guilty of religiously-aggravated harassment.

Paul Golding, 36, and Jayda Fransen, 32, both of Penge, south-east London, stood trial in January at Folkestone Magistrates' Court charged with three and four counts respectively of the hate crime.

They were arrested in May last year as part of an investigation into the distribution of leaflets and online videos which had been posted during a trial at Canterbury Crown Court in the same month.

Following that trial, three Muslim men and a teenager were convicted of rape and jailed.

Judge Justice Barron said their words and actions "demonstrated hostility" towards Muslims.

Fransen was found guilty of three charges and Golding was found guilty of one charge. The other counts against them were dismissed.

The judge said: "I have no doubt it was their joint intention to use the facts of the case (in Canterbury) for their own political ends.

"It was a campaign to draw attention to the race, religion and immigrant background of the defendants."

Golding and Fransen will be sentenced later on Wednesday.</s>Police have released pictures of the leaders of Britain First in custody after deeming it to be in the public interest.

Kent Police issued the images to the media on Thursday – the day after leader Paul Golding and his deputy Jayda Fransen were convicted of hate crimes.

The pair were jailed on Wednesday at Folkestone Magistrates’ Court for 18 weeks and 36 weeks respectively after standing trial for religiously-aggravated harassment which they carried out in Kent in May last year.

The court heard the pair launched a political campaign in which they claimed to be trying to expose Muslim men who were the subject of a rape trial.

Instead they ended up branding innocent people who practised the faith as paedophiles and rapists.

When Fransen and Golding were being sentenced, members of the press requested the release of the pictures but were told force policy was only to release images if a defendant had been handed an immediate jail sentence of more than a year.

But on Thursday the pictures were released after the force said it believed it was in the public interest to do so due to the nature of the offences.

Detective Inspector Bill Thornton, of Kent Police, said the crimes were “abhorrent” and the force would not tolerate crimes motivated by prejudice and hate, adding: “The fact that completely innocent members of the public were accused of

 being rapists, making them fear for their own safety, shows how little regard they [Golding and Fransen] have for the consequences of their actions.”

Requests for the release of footage depicting the crimes, which was played in open court, was denied due to concerns the videos could cause offence and because the files were not “readily available”.

Reporters were also told it would be dependent on what sentence was handed down.</s>The two heads of far-right group Britain First have been found guilty of religious hate crimes. Party leader Paul Golding and deputy leader Jayda Fransen have been found guilty of four charges in total.

Golding, 36, and Fransen, 32, both of Penge, south-east London, stood trial in January at Folkestone Magistrates’ Court. They were charged with three and four counts respectively of hate crime.

Golding and Fransen were arrested over the distribution of leaflets and videos which were posted online during the trial of three Muslim men and a teen, all of whom were later convicted of rape and jailed.

The court heard how last year Fransen went to the home of one of the defendants, Tamin Rahmani, and shouted abuse through the front door. His partner, Best, said she was alone with their two children – aged 18 months and three years – when the incident happened.

The mother-of-two told the court that she blames Fransen for her daughter’s stillbirth. “She was making racist remarks: ‘Dirty Muslim rapist, come out, we're not going to leave until you’re gone, come out. Dirty scumbags,’” Best said.

“It was directed at Tamin because she thought he was in there but he wasn’t… I was also pregnant at the time it happened, two days after I started to bleed heavily and lost my daughter; she was stillborn. I blame Jayda Fransen because there was no other reason for it to happen.”

Judge Justice Barron said their words and actions “demonstrated hostility” towards Muslims. Fransen was found guilty of three charges, while Golding was found guilty of only one charge. Other charges against the duo were dismissed.

“I have no doubt it was their joint intention to use the facts of the case (in Canterbury) for their own political ends,” the judge said. “It was a campaign to draw attention to the race, religion and immigrant background of the defendants.”

Think your friends would be interested? Share this story!</s>The verdict in the trial of Britain First leader Paul Golding and Deputy Leader Jayda Fransen is to be announced today (March 7).

The pair will appear at Folkestone Magistrates’ Court, following their appearances in January this year.

Fransen, 31, and Golding, 36, both of Beeches Close, Penge, are accused of multiple charges of religiously aggravated harassment.

They pleaded not guilty to all charges.

The pair were arrested in May 2017 in relation to a ‘campaign’ led by Fransen around the then ongoing trial of four men who raped a 16-year-old girl in a flat above the 555 Pizza takeaway in Ramsgate.

In all of the charges, Golding and Fransen are accused of causing harassment to individuals who were not directly involved in the rape case.

During the trial, the court heard that two young girls were left "crying and worried" when they showed up and began shouting in the street outside their home.

The verdict is due to be announced just after 2pm today. Follow our updates from Folkestone Magistrates' Court below.</s>Britain First leaders jailed for hate crimes against Muslims

The leaders of far-right British party Britain First have been handed jail time for religiously aggravated harassment.

Paul Golding, 36, leader of the anti-immigration party, and his deputy Jayda Fransen, 31, were convicted of filming and harassing people they believed were involved in a rape trial involving a number of Muslim men at a court in Canterbury, Kent.

They posted their actions on the Britain First website and also delivered offensive leaflets to homes in the area where those involved in the case lived, prosecutors told Folkestone Magistrates Court.

"The prosecution case demonstrated these defendants were not merely exercising their right to free speech but were instead aiming religiously aggravated abuse at innocent members of the public," Chief Crown Prosecutor Jaswant Narwal said in a statement.

Fransen was convicted on three counts of religiously aggravated harassment and Golding was found guilty of one charge.

Both have been given jail time, with Fransen handed a 36-week sentence and Golding receiving 18 weeks.

Last November, United States President Donald Trump retweeted anti-Muslim videos posted by Fransen, drawing condemnation from across Britain, including from Prime Minister Theresa May.

Mr Trump initially fired back at Ms May, saying she should focus on "the destructive Radical Islamic Terrorism that is taking place within the United Kingdom".

But in January he said he had not intended to cause offence in Britain and his retweet was not an endorsement of Britain First.

Fransen, who was convicted last year of abusing a Muslim woman, said at the time she believed Mr Trump had been "railroaded" into making an apology.

She and Golding have accused the authorities of persecution.

Newly-elected Australian Senator and retired senior Army officer Jim Molan was also criticised for sharing videos posted by Britain First on his personal Facebook page.

He has said he has no apologies or regrets for sharing the videos, which purports to show Muslim men attacking a police car in France and Muslim men harassing and assaulting young women in France and the Netherlands.

Last week, Britain's most senior counter-terrorism officer warned Britain was facing a serious and growing threat from far-right terrorism, often fuelled by online extremism.</s>The leader and deputy leader of far-right group Britain First have been jailed after being found guilty of religiously-aggravated harassment.

The group's leader Paul Golding, 36, of Penge, south-east London, was sentenced to 18 weeks in prison after he was found guilty of one charge of the hate crime but two other counts against him were dismissed.

Deputy leader, Jayda Fransen, 31, also from Penge, was convicted of all three charges and jailed for 36 weeks.

The pair were arrested last May over the distribution of leaflets and posting of online videos during a rape trial at Canterbury Crown Court involving three Muslim men and a teenager, who were later convicted and jailed.

Delivering the judgment, Judge Justin Barron told Folkestone Magistrates' Court said the words and actions of Golding and Fransen "demonstrated hostility" towards Muslims and the Muslim faith.

He said: "I have no doubt it was their joint intention to use the facts of the case (in Canterbury) for their own political ends.

"It was a campaign to draw attention to the race, religion and immigrant background of the defendants."</s>The leaders of a British far-right group that made international headlines after President Trump retweeted some of their videos will spend time behind bars for committing hate crimes against Muslims, prosecutors announced Wednesday.

Paul Golding and Jayda Fransen, the brains behind the aggressively anti-immigrant Britain First party, were convicted on several counts of religiously aggravated harassment for filming and intimidating Muslim men involved in a rape trial in the English city of Canterbury.

Golding, 36, and Fransen, 31, posted videos online of the men and distributed racist leaflets about them. Fransen also went to the home of one of the defendants and screamed racist slurs at him and his family through the front door, fuming that all Muslims are rapists.

Some of the men that the far-right leaders targeted turned out to not be involved in the trial, prosecutors said.

Trump says he 'would apologize' for sharing anti-Muslim videos

For that reason, Folkestone Magistrate Court Judge Justin Barron concluded that their hateful campaign was racially charged and hostile toward an entire group of people.

"I have no doubt it was their joint intention to use the facts of the case for their own political ends," Barron said. "It was a campaign to draw attention to the race, religion and immigrant background of the defendants."

Fransen was sentenced to 36 weeks of hard time, while her right-hand man was handed an 18 week sentence. The duo is due to stand trial next month on separate charges that they stoked racial hatred at an anti-Muslim rally in Belfast, Northern Ireland.

The White House did not return a request for comment from the Daily News in light of Wednesday's ruling.

Trump stoked global outrage in November after he retweeted a string of anti-Muslim propaganda videos from Fransen's Twitter account, which has since been deleted for violating the social media site's hate crime policies.

British Prime Minister Theresa May was among hundreds of politicians across the world who denounced Trump's apparent amplification of Islamophobia and racism.

But Trump, who has a long history of racially charged remarks, refused to apologize and contended in a tweet that May should not focus on him, but "on the destructive Radical Islamic Terrorism that is taking place within the United Kingdom."

Amid widespread pressure, Trump offered a half-hearted apology to British television host Piers Morgan, saying he "would certainly apologize if you'd like me to do that." He never actually gave that apology.

White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders offered a bizarre defense for Trump's inflammatory retweets, saying it doesn't matter whether the videos were real.

"Whether it is a real video, the threat is real," Sanders told reporters at the time, adding that Trump was only interested in promoting national security and that his retweets were "accomplishing exactly that."</s>The leader and deputy leader of far-right group Britain First have been jailed after launching a "political campaign" in which Muslims were branded paedophiles and rapists.

Paul Golding, 36, and Jayda Fransen, 32, both of Penge, south-east London, were found guilty at Folkestone Magistrates' Court on Wednesday of religiously-aggravated harassment.

They were arrested on May 10 last year in an investigation into the distribution of leaflets and online videos during an on-going trial at Canterbury Crown Court.

Three Muslim men and a teenager were later jailed for raping a 16-year-old girl in a flat above the 555 Pizza takeaway in Ramsgate, Kent.

Judge Justin Barron convicted Fransen of three charges and Golding of one charge.

Sentencing Fransen to 36 weeks and Golding for 18 weeks in jail, he said the crimes were "deliberately planned against targeted victims".

The court descended into chaos as Judge Barron attempted to continue his sentence and impose restraining orders so the pair could not contact victims and witnesses in the case.

But Fransen spoke over him and said: "This is a very sad day for British justice. Everything I did was for the children of this country and they are worth it."

This caused cheers and applause to erupt from the public gallery as the pair were led away and Judge Barron temporarily left the courtroom before concluding his directions.

As supporters left the courtroom they hurled abuse at court staff and members of the press, branding the proceedings a "shambles" and shouting: "No surrender."

They added: "If we say anything these days we get sent to prison."
Paul Golding and Jayda Fransen, leader and deputy of the British far-right organization Britain First, are convicted of hate crimes for posting things deemed offensive online. Golding is sentenced to 36 weeks in prison and Fransen to 18 weeks in prison for promoting Islamophobic activities and harassment.