LONDON—A self-declared “British fascist” who admitted sharing terrorist publications on Telegram has been sentenced to six years and eight months after a judge partially rejected his claim his actions were “reckless” and not an attempt to encourage terrorist attacks.
Kristofer Kearney, 38, will have to serve four years and eight months in custody, with the rest on licence.
Sentencing him on Friday, Judge Richard Marks, KC, said Kearney had an “entrenched mindset” and said: “Most right-thinking people in this country would consider kindness, tolerance and inclusivity as being of fundamental importance. The material you posted was extreme, vile, inflammatory, divisive and extremely offensive.”
Kearney ran a Telegram channel called Charlie Big Potatoes—which had 1,642 subscribers—on which he claimed Adolf Hitler “showed people the way” and “did nothing wrong.”
He also shared posts encouraging violence against black people, Jews, and Muslims.
Marks said one of the themes was “white genocide” and said Kearney said, “white males need to fight to resist” it.
In March, Kearney pleaded guilty to two offences of disseminating terrorist publications by making Telegram posts on Jan. 23, 2021 and March 8, 2021, in which he disseminated dozens of documents which glorified terror attacks, such as those by Anders Breivik in Norway and Brenton Tarrant in New Zealand.
The court heard Kearney—a former soldier who was originally from Liverpool—moved to Spain in 2019 with his wife and three children after counter-terrorism officers arrested him and he refused to give them the PIN numbers to access his device.
Kearney lived in Alicante and hosted a weekly podcast called “The Absolute State of Britain.”
Child Died in ‘Tragic Accident’
On Friday, defence barrister Ged O'Connor, KC, told the sentencing hearing Kearney’s 15-month-old child died in a “tragic accident” in Spain last month and he said this had a “devastating” effect on his client.O'Connor said: “The one place he wants to be (with his family) he has been unable to be.”
When he passed sentence Marks offered his “sincere condolences” to Kearney for the loss of his child but said it was an “aggravating factor” that he committed the offences while he was “unlawfully at large.”
After the hearing, Marks gave a ruling in which he said: “Whilst I am willing to give him the benefit of the doubt that his entire agenda and intention was not throughout to encourage acts of terrorism, I conclude from the nature, extent and volume of the material posted that such was his fanaticism in achieving his stated objectives that he was prepared and intended, at least in part for that to happen, if that is what it took.”
Kearney is the first member of Patriotic Alternative—who have held protests against illegal immigrants in several towns in recent months—to be convicted of a terrorist offence.
‘Fervent and Fanatical’
In his ruling last month, Marks said: “My overall impression of Kearney was that he was articulate, intelligent and thoughtful. He was also fervent and fanatical about his beliefs which he had clearly honed over many years and played a very central part in his life, as demonstrated by the frequent and lengthy podcasts in which he was involved.”The judge added: “Whilst I accept that he may not have familiarised himself with the entirety of the postings in the library and all the videos, in my judgment he minimised his knowledge of all of this material.”
“I did not accept his claims that he was completely ignorant of just about everything within the material that advocated violence, indeed was horrified by it and wouldn’t have posted any of it, had he known of its content,” he added.
At last month’s hearing, Kearney described himself as a “British fascist” and when asked to describe his ideology, he said, “Our main aim is to not become minorities in our own homeland.”
Prosecutor Naomi Parsons asked Kearney who he thought was in danger of becoming a minority in Britain.
Kearney said: “The indigenous people of the British Isles … the Irish, Welsh, Scottish, and English people. If you were born from those nationalities you would be ethnically British. They are in danger of becoming a minority.”
Parsons asked, “Do you mean white people?”
“It’s an ethnicity. Germans are white but they are not British,” he replied.
She asked, “What about a black person who was born in the UK, would they meet your definition of British?”
Kearney responded by referring to Eastern European immigrants.
Marks asked, “Are black people born in the UK capable of being treated as indigenous?”
One Far-Right Video Mentioned ‘Bloodlust’
Parsons then asked him about a video by Kai Murros—described in court as a “Finnish far-right activist”—which he posted on his Telegram channel.In it, Murros said, “There is nothing more frightening in this world than the bloodlust of a nation that has suffered injustice.”
Parsons asked Kearney if he agreed with Murros, and he replied, “His language is inflammatory and he goes off on a crazy tangent.”
In one episode of his podcast, which was played in court, Kearney said: “I want fanatics. I want people prepared to die for this cause. We want a hardcore group of people … who know exactly what they want.”
O’Connor asked him what he had meant by “hardcore” in that clip.
“It was part of a conversation we were having. There was a guy, ex-EDL [English Defence League], who wanted to align with some other ex-EDL groups and I said ‘no, they are not fascists.’ They’re, for a better term, liberals,” replied Kearney.
O’Connor asked him if Mark Collett, the leader of Patriotic Alternative, had been on his podcast.
Kearney said he had and, when asked if he agreed with all his views, he said: “Broadly agree. He is a nationalist like myself.”
After he was sentenced Commander Dominic Murphy, who leads the Metropolitan Police’s Counter Terrorism Command, said: “Kearney brazenly posted abhorrent extremist material online, advertising it to hundreds of people who followed his account. He may have thought that, being in Spain, he could act with impunity. However, he was wrong. Our officers travelled to Spain to arrest Kearney, and had him extradited so he could face these charges.”
