National Action neo-Nazi entered ‘Miss Hitler’ beauty contest to attract new recruits, court hears

An alleged neo-Nazi entered a “Miss Hitler” beauty contest in a bid to attract new members to her group, a court has heard.

Alice Cutter is charged with remaining a member of the terrorist group National Action after it was banned by the government for its “racist, antisemitic and homophobic” ideology and calls for violence.

The court heard the 22-year-old took on the nickname “Buchenwald Princess” in reference to the Nazi concentration camp where more than 56,000 prisoners died.

Prosecutor Barnaby Jameson QC said Ms Cutter entered the National Action-organised beauty contest in June 2016, days after a white supremacist murdered Labour MP Jo Cox.

“This was, no doubt, a publicity stunt to raise the group’s profile and attract more members,” he told the jury.

“Ms Cutter entered the competition as Buchenwald Princess and she set out her mission statement in a detailed interview. The beauty contest was anything but funny.”

In an “interview” accompanying the photo, Ms Cutter allegedly said: “It is important to me that there’s a balance of feminine to masculine in the movement – without feminine involvement, what would a movement be? A sad sausage fest with no appeal?

“Women are the most important figures when it comes to teaching and raising the next generation to be strong and proud.

“We need to step up, be the lionesses we ought to be and rip apart the hyenas laughing at us as we get raped, beaten, brainwashed and de-feminised en masse. Hyenas have no part in our pride and never will.”

Ms Cutter is on trial alongside her boyfriend, Mark Jones, and two other alleged neo-Nazis at Birmingham Crown Court.

Mr Jones is also accused of posing for a photograph while performing a Hitler salute and holding National Action’s flag inside a concentration camp.

The jury was shown a photo allegedly showing Mr Jones and another man in a room where Jewish prisoners were hung at Buchenwald, Germany.

Opening the case against the four defendants, Mr Jameson said Mr Jones – a former British National Party youth wing member – flew to Germany in 2016 to visit the camp.

After a government ban came into force later that year, the court heard that Mr Jones remained a National Action “leader, strategist and recruiter” known as “Granddaddy Terror”.

Mr Jones, 24, and Ms Cutter, both of Sowerby Bridge near Halifax, deny being members of National Action between December 2016 and September 2017.

Garry Jack, 23, from Shard End in Birmingham, and 18-year-old Connor Scothern, of Bagnall Avenue in Nottingham, deny belonging to the banned organisation between the same dates.

Mr Jack is alleged to have been a fanatic and was arrested for posting racist stickers at a university after the ban was imposed.

Mr Jameson told the jury the defendants were seeking to spread terror from “an ideology so warped, so extreme and so twisted, its continued existence will be shocking to many of you, if not all”.

He added: “It is the terror of pathological racial prejudice. This case is about a fellowship of hate – a hate so fanatical and a fellowship so defiant that the accused would sooner break the law than break their bonds of hate.”

Mr Jameson said National Action did not disband after the 2016 government ban, but split into factions with new names.

The trial continues.

Additional reporting by PA