London Court Starts Hearing on Anti-semites; Plotted to Kill Jews

Cans of weedkiller which could easily be turned into explosives and which had been labeled “Jewkiller,” were among the items seized by Scotland Yard at the headquarters of Spearhead, an organization connected with Colin Jordan’s National Socialist movement, it was disclosed here today by prosecutor Griffith Jones at the opening session of the hearing in Magistrate’s Court of Jordan and three other British Nazis charged with violating the Public Order Act. The prosecutor asked that the four men be committed for trial.

Arrested with Jordan are John Tyndall, Ian Kerr-Ritchie and Dennis Pirie. The four men are accused of controlling the Spearhead organization, a semi-military group, and of violating provisions of the Public Order Act which prohibit the use of force or acting in such a way as to usurp the powers of the police. They were remanded on bail until tomorrow.

The prosecutor said that the police had also found along with the weedkiller, instructions to “place a few crystals in a sealed room full of Jews.” Other articles found at the group’s headquarters in the Notting Hill section of London included pictures of Josef Goebbels and Julius Streicher, two of Hitler’s high-ranking Nazis, as well as evidence of training in unarmed combat and semi-military exercises.

Mr. Jones told the court that Spearhead’s political creed was similar to that of Hitler’s party and was based on anti-Semitism and everything anti-democratic. He said the prosecution would show that the men on trial had set out to emulate Hitler’s soldiers, dressing in uniforms including brownshirts and jack boots. The prosecution, he said, was not being brought to hinder free speech or to restrict political thought, but to check an organization of this kind in its infancy.

Extra police were on duty outside the Magistrate’s Court where crowds gathered before the hearing began. Loud boos and hissing were heard when the four accused arrived. Several persons wearing yellow stars, the emblem of a new anti-fascist organization, were seen in the public benches of the small courtroom during the hearing. Two or three spectators had swastikas in their lapels.