Simon Sheppard (activist) - Biography - Criminal Convictions and Imprisonment

Criminal Convictions and Imprisonment

On 8 June 1999, Sheppard and David Hannam were arrested in Hull for distributing racist election literature on behalf of the British National Party. He was expelled from the BNP the same day (though not Hannam, who remained a senior administrator in the party until his death in October 2011 at the age of 30). On 14 June 2000, Sheppard was convicted at Hull Crown Court of publishing or distributing racially inflammatory material. According to his website, Sheppard has been banned from every public library in Hull, Hull University and Hull College "merely for expressing opinions". In 2005, Sheppard's house was raided by police following complaints about allegedly racist material published by his Heretical Press.

In 2008, Sheppard was arrested in the UK and charged with using his website to circulate "material likely to incite racial hatred". The website is based in Torrance, California, so Sheppard rejects English legal jurisdiction over the published writings. Sheppard and his associate Steven Whittle absconded from bail, took a ferry to Ireland, and flew to Los Angeles, USA. After they demanded political asylum, the pair were put into Santa Ana Jail.

On 24 March 2009, the two appellants addressed the California court themselves before Judge Rose Peters. On 5 April 2009, with reasons reserved, Sheppard and Whittle were denied asylum, upon which the former stated that they would not appeal, and they were deported and returned to prison in the United Kingdom on 17 June 2009. On 10 July 2009, Sheppard was sentenced to 4 years and 10 months in prison, and his co-defendant, Whittle, was convicted of five similar offences. These sentences for publishing material on the Internet were described as "groundbreaking" by Adil Khan, representing Humberside police, whilst Sheppard's lawyer, Adrian Davies, said in his defence during the trial that he had come from a "very troubled background" and revealed that his mother had committed suicide, whilst noting that Sheppard was an intelligent man who had problems with authority, especially the police. In January 2010, Sheppard and Whittle lost an appeal against their convictions, but succeeded in having their sentences reduced slightly.

Sheppard was arrested again on 25 January 2013 for breaching his licence conditions. The breach related to an article entitled "Spree Killers" from the Heritage and Destiny publication. Sheppard was returned to prison for a further three months.

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