Britain First leader and deputy charged with religiously aggravated harassment

The leader and deputy leader of far-right group Britain First have been charged with religiously aggravated harassment.

Paul Golding, 35, and Jayda Fransen, 31, both from Penge, south east London, were arrested in May as part of an investigation into the distribution of leaflets and the posting of online videos during a trial held at Canterbury Crown Court the same month.

The trial involved three Muslim men and a teenager accused of raping the 16-year-old girl in a flat above a kebab shop in Ramsgate, Kent. They were convicted and jailed. 

Kent police said Fransen had been charged with four counts of causing religiously aggravated harassment and Golding three counts.

Both were been bailed to appear before Medway magistrates on October 17.

The former leader of the English Defence League (EDL) was given a suspended prison sentence for contempt of court in May after filming outside the court during the same rape trial.

In a video posted online, Tommy Robinson filmed himself describing the defendants, who had not yet been convicted, as "paedophiles" and claiming: "It's going on across our country."