BNP and Special Branch - Partners In Crime?

In an earlier post attempts by the BNP to carry out reprisal attacks for alleged property damage inflicted on their members in Barnsley were detailed. In case you were wondering how this had come about this is the almost full story. Some details have been kept back as intelligence gathering is always ongoing and sources have to be protected. Among other things it details evidence of two state agents, one working in Sheffield BNP and one in the South Yorkshire animal rights movement.

The story starts in late 2007 when two attacks were made on the BNP stall in Barnsley town centre. The first was a spur of the moment job that led to the perpetrators being nicked and done and having their details put on Redwatch. The second was a bit more organised and resulted in the fash having their papers nicked and stall trashed. Half the papers were thrown away round the corner and half ended up in a recycling bin in Sheffield. A picture of the aftermath of one of these attacks adorns the home page of the antifa website. Instead of relying on the forces of law and order to track down the culprits for the second attack, the BNP instead got CCTV pictures of the attackers and circulated them among their members in Barnsley, Sheffield and elsewhere.

Five months after the second attack, in May 2008, the BNP fielded candidates in every Barnsley ward but one at the council elections. Their realistic chances of getting someone elected were sabotaged a week before the election when one of their candidates, Simon Goodricke, was exposed as a bent ex-copper by the local weekly, the Barnsley Chronicle, who were acting on a tip-off from Searchlight. He obviously hadn’t mentioned this at his selection meeting. He ended up getting the lowest BNP vote in Barnsley but almost certainly cost other BNP candidates votes and seats.

A month later a campaign of “anti-fascist communications” began against the BNP candidates and known supporters. These “anti-fascist communications” involved practical suggestions of ideas for redecoration of cars, vans, doors, windows, walls, garages, paths, etc, as well as occasional murals involving the letters B, N, P, S, C, U and M, together with a well-known symbol which first became common among Eastern religions and then known worldwide thanks to an infamous Austrian psychopath in the first half of the 20th century. The campaign went on over the summer months and into the autumn of 2008.

The first sign that the campaign of “anti-fascist communications” was having a positive effect came in October when an email purporting to come from ex-copper, and now ex-member of the master race, Goodricke was sent to an anti-fascist organisation inviting the recipients to come and have a go if they thought they were hard enough. Unfortunately the recipients had no idea what it was about. It had been sent to the wrong people but at least one person took it at face value and wanted to round up a posse.

In fact not only did it reach the wrong people it wasn’t even Goodricke who had sent it. It was sent by other BNP members in Barnsley concerned that if their 2008 candidates were all going to get hit then Goodricke should be included too. Sadly for them a decision had already been taken that as Goodricke was the kind of fascist this country desperately needs i.e. one who costs the BNP votes and seats, he would be left alone. If they want him done they’ll have to do him themselves.

Other signs of annoyance included a BNP candidate near Barnsley town centre who took to sitting outside the pub opposite his home on cold December nights to keep an eye on his property. He’d by now been done twice and his anger was probably made even sharper by an anonymous email that had been sent to his employer, a carpet company in Huddersfield, informing them of his political allegiances. Such vigilance didn’t prevent a third attack a few months later. Just as sad was the member in Thurnscoe who could be seen looking out for his Range Rover through his front bedroom window after midnight. Again such vigilance failed to protect his property rights. Well, don’t park it on your front drive. Others have had CCTV installed.

Another tactic some BNP members were advised to adopt was to make it look like they were up and about in the early hours, by leaving the lights on after going to bed. The idea was to deter “anti-fascist communications” by giving the impression that someone might look out of the window at any moment and see what was going on. Unfortunately for them a tip-off had already been received about this and some were hit regardless. Some weren’t though so that they were left to run up big electricity bills before being communicated to later. Other members however didn’t receive this advice because there is a hierarchy within the membership, those forewarned and those not. A separate list was kept of the forewarned. Presumably these are the chosen few. And chosen again they will be. The others, the lesser mortals, may be aggrieved to learn about this hierarchy and that they’re not considered worthy to be warned about possible attacks.

By now the 2007 membership list had been leaked and progress shot ahead. The list betrayed the fact that many of the 2008 council candidates weren’t members in 2007, suggesting the BNP were fielding a lot of paper candidates who hadn’t been vetted properly. Hence Goodricke. This in turn would suggest that the BNP membership has a large soft underbelly of commitment. Something to test though and that testing went ahead all over town – from Royston in the north to Hoyland in the south and from Thurnscoe in the east to Penistone in the west.

Visits to their homes suggest that in general they’re a middle-class bunch. Few live on council estates and those that do tend to live in ex-council houses that have been bought. The two areas where they are strong are in Bolton-upon-Dearne and Goldthorpe in the east, and Barugh Green on the north west of town. Both areas have their local BNP pub, the Collingwood and Spencers Arms respectively. The Barnsley organiser lives in Barugh Green. He has been a good source of intelligence, allowing himself to be easily followed round so that addresses not already known can be identified. If you live in Barugh Green and are wondering how your far-right affiliations recently came to light, wonder no more. Thank your local organiser’s lack of discretion.

Barnsley BNP members live in some lovely houses. Someone should do a leaflet showing their wealth. The hoi polloi might think twice about voting for them. Their most favourite vehicle is the Range Rover (now Indian of course) but a family in Wortley goes in for Land Rovers in a big way. They could invade Poland on their own. You get the feeling that if they lived anywhere else they’d be old-fashioned Monday Club Tories, but Conservativism isn’t very popular in Barnsley.

Back to the BNP’s hunt to track down their person of local knowledge. While the campaign was in full swing a few attempts were made to follow the person they considered the local snitch. One failed when the follower couldn’t decide whether he wanted a single or return ticket at the railway station and anyway he’d already been seen on their stall so was known. Another made the mistake of ignoring the number one rule that you should walk behind and not in front of the person you’re supposed to be tailing. And another failed because he wore white shoes – twice – which made him stand out a mile. If you’re going to wear white shoes make sure it’s snowing. More on white shoes later.

The BNP finally made its breakthrough by using the BBC website and some email hacking but still couldn’t lay a finger on their target. Barnsley members had been instructed not to confront him if seen in the street but pass on intelligence instead. The job to implement the reprisals was passed on to a group of Sheffield boneheads who we can label Keystone Hit Squad so incompetent have they proved to be. KHS have fucked up a few times. One attempted ambush outside Sharrow Junior School in Sheffield on May 22nd failed due to appalling incompetence and a tip-off. A few words of advice. First, don’t sit in cars outside a school with which you have no connections or you might be mistaken for paedophiles. Second don’t send Dopey out spotting on his tricycle, especially in his white baseball cap. The only injury the intended target will receive will be when he falls over laughing. And third you’re supposed to keep an eye out for your target or he’ll breeze straight past, as in fact did happen, helped as he was by a warning of what was planned for him. Other attempts included a failed break-in caught on CCTV at 3.15am on Monday 4th May. The idiot left DNA on a door handle too.

By now though a third party had entered the fray. A visit had been made to north Sheffield to make a polite request to a senior BNP member to call off the goons. Man in north Sheffield was already known to be Special Branch’s eyes and ears in Sheffield BNP and instead of calling off the goons he instead called in his SB minder who tried to get confirmation of who was doing all this.

SB in turn roped in Man In Doncaster, someone active in animal rights and who had played a supporting role in the second attack on the Barnsley stall in 2007. Man in Doncaster passed a name and number back to SB. Man in Doncaster’s commitment to anti-fascism was already under question after he had deliberately sabotaged a planned "anti-fascist communication" in Sheffield a year earlier with an excuse so feeble it would have blown away in the summer breeze. Unlike Man in Doncaster no name will be passed on here. Just to say that sometime in future he will be asked to explain his treachery. In the meantime South Yorkshire Hunt Sabs are advised to get a new driver.

So now there is the problem of working out who the different stalkers belong to, SB or the BNP. White shoes, who was seen boarding a coach at London Victoria at 6pm on Wednesday 27th May 2009 and getting off at Sheffield Interchange 4 hours later, a journey he only made after an email was hacked, before getting on his mobile to say prey is on the way, is definite BNP. He wore a brown leather jacket, light blue jeans and carried a blue and orange bag and sat at the back of the coach just in front of the toilet appropriately. Again a tip-off had been received. He needs a crash course in stalking and was caught on CCTV and Sheffield BNP needs to instil some discipline in its members.

SB stalkers tend to be smoother and go out of their way to be spotted. The one in Norton Lees in early June, in mid-July in the city centre (an appearance only facilitated by a second email address being hacked – naughty boys) and in late July pretending to do a bit of window-shopping in Sharrow are SB.

They were obviously angry about Man In North Sheffield being exposed as SB in an earlier post. They must be fucking furious now that their animal rights mole has been unearthed too. The BNP ones are the ones who give themselves away through incompetence or by desperately trying not to give themselves away. Like the one outside Oakwell before the Man City game on the corner of Grove Street and Grasmere Road. Your photo’s already done the rounds, baldy. Other spotters are known about in advance after tip-offs.

All this begs the question as to what SB is up to. It’s known that they are particularly interested in gathering intelligence on the anarchist wing of anti-fascism. Their BNP operatives are known to have legal immunity so does SB think there isn’t enough violence in Sheffield as it is with all the shootings and stabbings? Are they setting the BNP up? Are they trying to get the BNP to do their dirty work for them? Do they think that showing their faces to anti-fascists is going to deter "anti-fascist communications"? Are they sharing intelligence with the fash? They have certainly shared photographs with the BNP and seem happy that their man in Sheffield is authorising violent assaults.

SB is getting into bed with people who are already known to have used CCTV pictures for illegal purposes, tried breaking and entering, solicited a violent assault on an ex-member (charming), conspiracy to commit possible GBH, computer hacking, etc, and they have done some hacking themselves. All this and the BNP is useless at settling its scores anyway. When the moment comes the spotter runs off to get his mates by which time the intended victim has strolled away. Tough guys eh.

The BNP itself has even set up a hotline in Sheffield so that any fash spotting their intended target can phone in. One young chav did so from Hillsborough in late July. A week later another fash was on the phone in the middle of Furnival Gate in the city centre and was told to follow his man and find out what was hidden in the anti-fascist’s bag. They’re obviously worried about weapons. Fash tried to do his job but within seconds his target had already been tipped off before the time fash got to Sainsbury’s, picked up half a dozen items without getting a basket but failed to have a look in his target’s bag while standing behind him in the queue. How do you think we know about these calls, fash? Have a fucking guess. And if it’s weapons the BNP is worried about it should just ask itself if it thinks known militant anti-fascists are likely to walk round unprepared.

The “anti-fascist communicating” goes on regardless. To date 103 separate “communications” have been made to 93 different BNP targets across Barnsley. Three have been hit three times, four twice and the rest once. No set pattern is involved. Different days of the week and times of night are chosen. Flexibility is paramount to prevent communications being predicted. One communication in Bolton-upon-Dearne was even delayed by a month when a tip-off came that a new-born baby had just arrived. And you may think militant anti-fascism is just a cruel business.

The 2007 membership list is already getting out of date. At least two members have moved and two others had their houses up for sale last winter. So they were moved up the housing list. Who says the indigenous population doesn’t get priority housing treatment? To prepare for the future, intelligence is already being gathered on supporters who have signed the BNP’s nomination papers in the past. One of these has the name of an ex-Football League referee who is a bit of a pillar of the local sports establishment – the cricket club and FA. Anti-fascist Newcastle United fans will remember his exploits in the 80s.

Another supporter who signed the BNP’s nomination papers in Royston has a pathological inability to walk past a motorcycle without nicking it, a habit that may or may not be related to his older brother’s second-hand motorcycle business near Barnsley town centre. His younger brother would nick the fresh air from your lungs. BNP supporter in Royston is best known for losing his virginity literally to the girl next door who used to crawl through the loft into his bedroom until part of her went through the ceiling thus bringing to an end their secret nights of lust. Such was teenage passion in Barnsley in the 1970s. His right-wing politics may have been inherited from his parents, former regulars at Barnsley Conservative Club. Maybe they forgot to pass on the bit about law and order. These details aren’t given to take the piss, but to show just how much information can be got about them.

At the forthcoming St Helen’s bye-election and next year’s council elections there will be further chances to monitor the fash and act later. We should see just how soft that underbelly is and how many of them will be willing to show themselves publicly as BNP members after two years of being dissuaded of the merits of fascism. Anti-fascists should beware of the police though. SB are monitoring and think they know who they’re looking for. On at least one occasion police in Barnsley contacted Sheffield police with a warning to intercept. But if there’s one thing easier to spot than someone wearing white shoes it’s a big white police car outside where you live. The police are looking to build up their database on militant anti-fascists. But avoiding and outwitting them is just one of the many pleasures to be had in taking on the BNP.

There will be no response by CAF to this article. The utmost priority is to protect sources and the fash and their state allies will try to draw them out. There is a good network of informers across Barnsley who will provide intelligence, other contacts, material help and practical support in carrying out "anti-fascist communications". These people include friends, neighbours, work colleagues and even relatives of BNP members so discretion is called for. In Barnsley everyone knows a lot about someone else and it is this that helps find out about such as how some low-life criminal lost his virginity over thirty years ago or who stays up late looking after his vehicle or sits outside the pub opposite to keep an eye on his property or who operates a phone line aimed at facilitating an assault or who is the SB informer or who has circulated photos. The BNP leaks like the proverbial sieve. Militant anti-fascism is always one step ahead.