Parliamentary candidate who ran antisemitic campaign to ‘bring white supremacy back’ jailed
Barbara Fielding-Morriss, 79, praised Adolf Hitler on her election website
Get Nadine White's Race Report newsletter for a fresh perspective on the week's news
Get our free newsletter from The Independent's Race Correspondent
Get our free newsletter from The Independent's Race Correspondent
A pensioner who ran to become an MP on a pledge to bring “white European supremacy back” and “clean up the world’s Islamic infestation” has been jailed.
Barbara Fielding-Morriss, 79, praised Adolf Hitler on her election website and called for “new and better death camps” before being arrested during the 2017 campaign.
She was found guilty of three counts of inciting racial hatred, after representing herself during a trial at Stafford Crown Court and using antisemitic conspiracy theories in her own defence.
Fielding-Morriss accused the judge of curtailing her freedom of speech, submitted three written statements to the court and in the witness box claimed she was protecting “my white nation” from “annihilation” by immigrants.
After saying she believed an “infestation” of Jews had invaded Britain, Fielding-Morriss was sentenced to 12 months in prison and a three-year criminal behaviour order.
Recorder Julian Taylor said Fielding-Morriss had “not helped her cause” by offering antisemitic mitigation.
“The background to this case is that you stood as a parliamentary candidate,” he told the defendant.
"Your manifesto, which was published on a website and in a blog, contained material that formed the subject of the three counts on the indictment.
"What I found particularly sinister during the trial was your attitude. You showed no remorse whatsoever.
"Indeed even today, when I gave you a final opportunity to address me, you started to repeat some of the matters you put forward to the jury during your trial."
The judge added: "The fact of the matter is you intended to stir up racial hatred.
“The fact you were standing in a general election as a parliamentary candidate aggravates this case, because you were putting views forward to an electorate.”
The judge said the defendant's age was not of itself a barrier to imprisonment, adding: “This matter is so serious that it crosses the custody threshold - an immediate sentence of custody is appropriate.”
Fielding-Morriss, of Stuart Avenue in Draycott in Staffordshire, was told she would serve six months in prison and the remainder of the sentence on licence.
A jury previously found her guilty of publishing racist messages on her party’s website between September 2016 and February 2017, during the Stoke-on-Trent Central by-election campaign.
Fielding-Morriss stood as an independent candidate, receiving 137 by-election votes (0.6 per cent) and 210 votes (also 0.6 per cent) at the 2017 general election.
When interviewed by police, she admitted responsibility for all content published on the “Abolish Magna Carta Reinstate Monarchy Party” website.
It contained a bizarre “manifesto”, including proposals to repatriate migrants and their descendants, remove them from all government, security, NHS and media positions.
The manifesto also vowed to check the “ethnic origins” of the government and targeted Irish travellers and the LGBT community.
A series of blogs by Fielding-Morriss including two entitled “Vote Barbara Fielding to get our white European supremacy back” and “Vote Barbara Fielding to clean up the wold’s Islamic infestation”.
In one of the articles, Fielding-Morriss praised Hitler and talked about building “new and better death camps”, while in another she compared Jewish people and immigrants with termites and claimed they were taking over the world.
She called white people "the supreme race” and vowed to "take back control of the United Kingdom for us white nationals”.
Detective Sergeant Brent Wheat, of Staffordshire Police, said: “Whilst freedom of speech is a very important element of our modern society, spreading hate and racism is not. We must do all we can to stamp out racism and the spreading of hate and I hope today's sentence shows we take crimes of this nature extremely seriously.”
Additional reporting by PA