Colin Jordan, leader of the British National Socialist Movement, and three of his aides were found guilty today in the Old Bailey on two counts of a four-count indictment charging them with violation of the Public Order Act.
Jordan, a former school teacher and head of the so-called “World Union of National Socialists,” was sentenced to nine months’ imprisonment. Mr. Justice Barry rejected his plea for freedom on bail pending appeal. Jordan and his three associates announced that they would appeal the verdict. They have 14 days in which to file motions.
Convicted with Jordan were three other officials of his Nazi organization; John Tyndall, 26, national secretary; Roland Kerr-Ritchie, 42, its research officer; and Denis Pirie, assistant national secretary. Tyndall was sentenced to six months’ imprisonment; and Kerr-Ritchie and Pirie to three months’ each. All had pleaded not guilty. They had been accused of forming an organization called “Spearhead,” whose members were allegedly trained for the purpose of the display and use of force to attain political objectives “in such a manner as to arouse considerable apprehension.”
The case went to the jury in London’s famed criminal court, the Old Bailey, this morning after Justice Barry concluded his summation. The judge indicated doubt that the prosecution had established that “Spearhead” had been organized and trained for the display of force. The jury failed to convict on the two counts involving this charge, but found all four defendants guilty on two other counts, involving organizing and training to cause apprehension.
In passing what he described as “extremely light sentences,” Justice Barry pointed out that, while the crimes for which the quartet had been convicted were not as grave as those charged in the first two counts of the indictment, they nevertheless constituted “a serious offence.”
Before he was led away, Jordan announced that he was passing on his command of the “World Union of National Socialists” to George Lincoln Rockwell, leader of the American Nazi Party while he served his prison term. One of his followers pledged: “we will take orders from Rockwell.”
Rockwell visited Jordan’s blackshirt camp last summer and narrowly escaped a roughing up when irate villagers descended on the encampment and wrecked it. He was subsequently deported from England.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
