wrote on Facebook, “Iv taken an interest in the EDL and iv attended a couple of demo’s.”[v]
Leigh Mcmillan, a senior EDL figure during Lennon’s time as leader who was active in the Lee Rigby campaign, was sentenced to 17 years after abusing a 10 year-old schoolgirl 100 times in the mid-1990s.[vi]
In 2010, the EDL supporter Brett Moses was given a 12-month prison sentence, suspended for two years, after he plead guilty to sexual grooming.[vii]
In 2011 John Broomfield, an active EDL supporter, admitted 20 counts of making indecent images of children. After his arrest alongside six others for conspiracy to cause an explosion – charges that were later dropped – the police found 236 indecent images depicting children and babies on his computers.[viii]
Also in 2011, Michael Coates was charged with a series of sex offences, including two attempted rapes. At the time he was active in the EDL splinter group the North West Infidels (NWI). Their leader, John Shaw, confirmed he had been active in the EDL previously, writing: “He like the rest of us was edl first then NWI.”[ix]
In 2011, a gang of racists attacked Redbridge Islamic Centre. During the attack they hurled racist abuse at those inside, including repeatedly shouting “EDL”. Later it emerged that Elliot Jones, one of the attackers on that day, was convicted of trying to incite a child into sexual activity.[x]
Mark “Archie” Sleman was an EDL supporter active in London and Exeter and was known for running the Church of the Templars, which was mainly made up of EDL members. It transpired that he had been imprisoned for nine years in 1994 for the kidnap and rape of a ten-year-old girl.[xi]
In 2012 the well-known EDL member and regular demonstration attender Matthew Woodward was charged with possession of images of children as young as ten years old, and a video recording of another child.[xii]
Michael Kinnear was active in the EDL and is known to have attended a demonstration in July 2013 at which Lennon spoke.[xiii] In 2015 he was jailed after police found images on his mobile of a primary school aged girl “performing a type of striptease” and in state of undress.[xiv]
Paul Whiteside was given a 10-month jail sentence suspended for two years with a rehabilitation activity requirement of up to 30 days as well as an 18-month restraining order banning him from contacting the girl and a 10-year sexual harm prevention order.
Since Lennon left the EDL in 2013, the group continued to attract support from child abusers and sex offenders, such as Bradley Daniel Alford,[xv] Alan Boulter,[xvi] Pete Gillett,[xvii] Luke Atkinson,[xviii] Dean Chambers,[xix] Bruce Cordwell,[xx] and Paul Whiteside amongst numerous others. Again, we can find no condemnations of these offenders from Lennon.
More recently, Lennon once again found himself allied with a sex offender. In June 2017, he shared a stage with William Charlton at a rally in Sunderland at an event where the sexual abuse of children was the key theme of the speeches. Lennon praised Charlton, saying ““I wouldn’t have heard of this campaign if it wasn’t for Billy,” adding “That battle has to be fought through every avenue.”[xxi] It later transpired that Charlton was found guilty of distributing an indecent photograph of a child.[xxii]
While we are not suggesting that Lennon had any knowledge of these awful crimes, we can find no examples of him condemning these supporters once their crimes came to light.
Stephen Yaxley Lennon and William Charlton
We Must Be Consistent
Stephen Yaxley-Lennon has long sought to use the issue of child sexual exploitation to push his racist and Islamophobic agenda, sometimes explicitly against the wishes of the survivors. He has even acted in ways that have compromised legal proceedings against perpetrators,[xxiii] further revealing he cares more about his own career than actual justice for survivors.
It is now also clear that he has no interest in calling out child abuse amongst his own supporters. We are also aware of another close long-time ally of Lennon who was jailed for underage sex offences and another with a track record of awful domestic abuse. He says he cares about survivors of abuse, but his record suggests otherwise.
Child sexual exploitation reaches across all communities, and these sickening actions involve men from all ethnic backgrounds. Lennon’s relentless exploitation of others’ pain is an insult to survivors and to those who work tirelessly to demand justice and build support services for survivors. His failure to condemn child sexual exploitation within his own ranks only highlights his hypocrisy as no ally of the pushback against CSE.
www.thetimes.co.uk/article/far-right-hero-is-a-convicted-paedophile-z6pb87rr2q5
[ii] www.dailystar.co.uk/news/latest-news/paedo-rap-for-edl-leader-18308790
[iii] www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/paige-chivers-murder-neonazi-paedophile-robert-ewing-found-guilty-of-murdering-school-girl-10382489.html
[iv] www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-lancashire-46182310
[v] ewing567.rssing.com/chan-53042332/article2.html
[vi] hopenothate.org.uk/2018/02/26/edl-man-gets-17-years-child-sex-offences/
[vii] www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/news/pervert-made-canada-trip-meet-girl-13-1974317
[viii] www.dorsetecho.co.uk/news/9094012.former-swanage-soldier-jailed-for-child-abuse-images/
[ix] brightonantifascists.com/2011/09/08/edl-unveil-new-child-sex-offender/
[x] www.romfordrecorder.co.uk/news/crime/romford-paedophile-squad-jailed-for-grindr-blackmail-3035876
[xi] www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2531040/Paedophile-released-jail-early-goes-run-second-time.html
[xii] hopenothate.org.uk/2012/05/20/why-did-the-edl-not-protest-this-paedophile-case/
[xiii] www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2015/10/522712.html
[xiv] www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/oct/16/lancashire-couple-jailed-for-child-pornography-offences
[xv] www.bristolpost.co.uk/news/bristol-news/paedophile-caught-trying-meet-13-865303
[xvi] thelincolnite.co.uk/2017/02/jailed-paedophile-hunters-snare-grimsby-man-live-facebook/
[xvii] hopenothate.org.uk/2018/10/09/far-right-round-6/
[xviii] www.nottinghampost.com/news/nottingham-news/notts-man-jailed-after-admitting-165398
[xix] far-rightcriminals.com/2017/03/28/fake-nhs-worker-found-guilty-of-drugging-and-sexually-assaulting-vulnerable-sheffield-women/
[xx] www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/uk-world-news/man-detained-after-sending-schoolgirl-9787879
[xxi] www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/billy-charlton-sunderland-justice-rape-campaign-tommy-robinson-brexit-a9123376.html
[xxii] www.sunderlandecho.com/news/crime/live-updates-billy-charlton-found-guilty-of-distributing-an-indecent-image-of-a-child-following-trial-3299175
[xxiii] www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/tommy-robinson-contempt-court-case-grooming-gang-trial-huddersfield-a8990436.html
