Miss Hitler beauty queen convicted of membership to a homophobic neo-Nazi terrorist organisation
Alice Cutter once entered a Miss Hitler beauty pageant. (West Midlands Police)
A former contestant in a Miss Hitler beauty pageant has been convicted of membership of banned neo-Nazi racist, homophobic, anti-semitic terrorist group National Action.
National Action was founded in 2013, and in 2016 the group was banned under the Terrorism Act 2000, making it the first far right group to be proscribed under the act since the Second World War.
According to the Home Office: “The group is virulently racist, anti-Semitic and homophobic. Its ideology promotes the idea that Britain will inevitably see a violent ‘race war’, which the group claims it will be an active part of.”
Through material disseminated on social media, National Action has celebrated the Pulse massacre and the murder of MP Jo Cox. They have also called for the reintroduction Section 28, banning the “promotion of homosexuality” in schools.
Alice Cutter, 23, was convicted on March 19 of being a member of the neo-Nazi group along with her partner 24-year-old Mark Jones, both from Wharf Street, Sowerby Bridge, Halifax.
Two other members were also convicted on the same day: Garry Jack, 24, from Heathland Avenue, Shard End, Birmingham, and Connor Scothern, 19, of Bagnall Avenue, Nottingham.
All four were members of the Midland Chapter of National Action. Two members of the same chapter were sentenced to eight years in prison in 2018.
Alice Cutter and her partner Mark Jones were both convicted of being members of National Action. (West Midlands Police)
Although Cutter denied being a part of the group, the jury at Birmingham Crown Court unanimously found them guilty.
Cutter previously entered a Miss Hitler pageant under the name Buchenwald Princess, a reference to the Nazi death camp. She met Jones through the Miss Hitler pageant, but they broke up before the trial.
Although Cutter denied being a part of the group, it was revealed that she had exchanged hundreds of messages with other members and was still attending meetings months after National Action was banned.
According to the Salisbury Journal, prosecutors said Cutter had been a “central spoke” of the organisation, and had made jokes about using a Jewish person’s head as a football and gassing synagogues.
Cutter also denied attending a National Action demonstration in York in 2016, but footage was later found showing her there giving the Nazi salute and standing behind a banner that read “Hitler was right”.
Alice Cutter. (West Midlands Police)
After the conviction, head of West Midlands Counter Terrorism Unit (WMCTU), Detective Chief Superintendent Kenny Bell said: “National Action is an extreme right wing neo-Nazi group.
“Their ambition is to prepare for a race war by amassing weapons and trying to recruit others by the spread of their extreme ideology. Being convicted of membership of this extreme right terrorist group is the same as belonging to other terrorist groups such as Al-Qaeda or Daesh.”
He continued: “This group was amassing weapons and recipes for bomb-making. They communicated through secret channels to recruit others to their cause. Left unchecked they presented a real threat to the public.
“We have seen a significant increase of right-wing referrals to our Prevent programme and we will investigate the threat as robustly as we would any other terrorist group, as well as training our officers on the signs to look out for and working with communities to increase awareness.
“Terrorists and extremists use this kind of ideology to create discord, distrust and fear among our communities and we strive to counter this. I would encourage people to report hate crime to us and it will be taken seriously.”
The convicted National Action members have not yet been sentenced.
