--- category: Organizations created: 2026-05-21 end: 2016 location: United Kingdom start: 2013 summary: National Action was a British neo-Nazi organization proscribed in December 2016 as the UK's first banned terrorist group since World War II, producing more than a dozen criminal convictions for membership and terrorism offenses between 2018 and 2022. tags: - NeoNazi - Accelerationism - UK - TerroristOrganization - IronMarch - Proscribed updated: 2026-05-22 --- [National Action](/organizations/national-action/) was a British neo-Nazi organization founded in late 2013 by Alex Davies and Benjamin Raymond, both university students at the time. It was the first organization outside Northern Ireland to be proscribed as a terrorist group in the [United Kingdom](/places/united-kingdom/) since World War II, banned by Home Secretary Amber Rudd on December 16, 2016 under the Terrorism Act 2000 after the organization publicly celebrated the murder of Labour MP Jo Cox and made death threats to multiple other left-wing politicians. More than a dozen individuals were convicted of membership in or facilitation of National Action in trials spanning 2018 to 2022, with sentences ranging from 3 years to life imprisonment.[^1] ### Founding and Iron March Connection Davies and Raymond founded National Action in late 2013. Raymond was an active administrator on the [Iron March](/organizations/iron-march/) neo-fascist web forum and National Action was the first offline organization to grow directly out of Iron March, making it a model and predecessor for the transnational accelerationist network that would later produce [Atomwaffen Division](/organizations/atomwaffen-division/) and its international affiliates. In 2015, AWD founder [Brandon Russell](/people/brandon-russell/) personally visited London and met Raymond in a documented encounter that linked the British and American accelerationist ecosystems directly.[^2] ### Proscription The primary catalysts for proscription were National Action's public celebration of the June 2016 murder of Labour MP Jo Cox by Thomas Mair and subsequent explicit death threats to other MPs. Earlier incidents had already drawn police attention: member Garron Helm was sentenced in October 2014 to four weeks in prison for sending an antisemitic tweet to MP Luciana Berger. Zack Davies, identified by police as a National Action member, was convicted in September 2015 of the attempted murder of Sikh dental student Sarandev Bhambra in Mold, Flintshire and sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum 14 years. On December 16, 2016, Rudd described National Action as "a racist, antisemitic and homophobic organisation which stirs up hatred, glorifies violence and promotes a vile ideology." Successor organizations System Resistance Network (SRN) and Scottish Dawn were separately proscribed in 2017; the Sonnenkrieg Division (SKD), founded by former SRN leader [Andrew Dymock](/people/andrew-dymock/), was proscribed in 2019.[^1] ### Prosecutions #### Wave 1 (Old Bailey, July 2018) Christopher Lythgoe (31, Warrington), the post-proscription leader: convicted of membership, sentenced to 8 years (Judge: Mr Justice Jay). Matthew Hankinson: convicted of membership, sentenced to 6 years. #### Jack Renshaw (separate proceedings, 2018-2019) Renshaw pleaded guilty on June 12, 2018 to preparing an act of terrorism (planning to murder MP Rosie Cooper with a machete as a prelude to suicide, intended to prevent the police investigation into his child sex offences from proceeding) and threatening to murder the detective investigating him. He was also convicted in 2018 of four counts of inciting children aged 13-15 to engage in sexual activity. On May 17, 2019, Mrs Justice McGowan sentenced him to life imprisonment with a minimum of 20 years.[^3] #### Wave 2 (Birmingham Crown Court, December 2018) Adam Thomas (21, Banbury): convicted of membership and possessing terrorist information, sentenced to 6 years 6 months. Claudia Patatas (38, Banbury, Thomas's partner, who had named their child after Hitler): convicted of membership, sentenced to 5 years. Daniel Bogunovic (26, Leicester): convicted of membership, sentenced to 6 years 4 months. Darren Fletcher (28, Wednesfield): pleaded guilty, sentenced to 5 years. Nathan Pryke (26, Cambridge): pleaded guilty, sentenced to 5 years 5 months. Joel Wilmore (24, Hazel Grove, Stockport): pleaded guilty to membership and possession of terrorist information, sentenced to 5 years 10 months. #### Wave 3 (Birmingham Crown Court, June 2020) Alice Cutter (23, Sowerby Bridge): convicted of membership, sentenced to 3 years (Judge: Paul Farrer QC). Mark Jones (25, Sowerby Bridge): convicted of membership, sentenced to 5 years 6 months. Garry Jack (24, Birmingham): convicted of membership, sentenced to 4 years 6 months. Connor Scothern (19, Nottingham): convicted of membership, detained in youth custody 18 months. #### Wave 4 (Central Criminal Court, 2021) [Benjamin Hannam](/people/benjamin-hannam/) (22), serving Metropolitan Police constable of Edmonton, north London, a probationary officer: convicted on 1 April 2021 at the Central Criminal Court (Old Bailey) of National Action membership under section 11 of the Terrorism Act 2000, two counts of fraud by false representation under sections 1 and 2 of the Fraud Act 2006 (lying on his Metropolitan Police Service application form and vetting form about BNP or similar organisation membership), two counts of possessing documents useful to a terrorist under section 58 of the Terrorism Act 2000 (Anders Breivik's manifesto and a knife-attack instructional manual, both found on a USB stick at his home), and one count of possessing a prohibited image of a child under section 62 of the Coroners and Justice Act 2009. He pleaded guilty to the child image count. Sentenced by Judge Anthony Leonard QC on 4 May 2021 to four years and four months plus one year extended licence. A Serious Crime Prevention Order restricting internet use was imposed for two years post-release. A 10-year terrorism notification period was also imposed. Hannam became the first serving UK police officer convicted of a terrorism-related offence. He was dismissed from the Metropolitan Police via an accelerated gross misconduct hearing in April 2021, prior to sentencing. Hannam had attended his first National Action meeting on 6 March 2016 at a pub in Paddington, joining the London branch. He continued with the organisation through summer 2017, including attending a post-proscription meeting in Swindon in January 2017, confirmed by CCTV footage, travel records, and financial transactions. He registered on Iron March under the username "Anglisc" shortly after joining National Action in March 2016. He applied to join the Metropolitan Police on 19 July 2017, falsely denying BNP-or-similar membership on both his application and vetting forms. His school had raised internal concerns about his views on immigration but was not contacted by the vetting unit. He was identified by Counter Terrorism Command in February 2020 through the November 2019 Iron March database leak, and arrested on 5 March 2020. The prosecution described him as an "active recruiter" for National Action's London branch.[^5] #### Wave 5 (Winchester Crown Court, May 2022) Alex Davies, co-founder (Swansea): found guilty on May 17, 2022 of membership between December 17, 2016 and September 27, 2017, sentenced to 8 years 6 months.[^4] ### O9A Integration via Ryan Fleming The principal documented channel through which [Order of Nine Angles](/organizations/order-of-nine-angles/) (O9A) ideology entered National Action was [Ryan Fleming](/people/ryan-fleming/), a regional organiser for the Yorkshire branch who simultaneously led the O9A-affiliated [Drakon Covenant](/organizations/drakon-covenant/) nexion. Operating under the pseudonym "A.A. Morain," Fleming wrote and published O9A texts including *Scithain: Vampyric Witchcraft of the Drakon Covenant* and *Codex Aristarchus*, with the latter's foreword contributed by a figure from the American nexion [Tempel ov Blood](/organizations/tempel-ov-blood/). Police searches of National Action members' properties during the prosecution waves recovered materials bearing O9A symbols. Fleming was convicted of child sexual abuse in 2012, 2017, and again in February 2021, in each instance for offences against minors.[^6] [^1]: Crown Prosecution Service. "Members of banned British neo-Nazi group jailed." 2018. https://www.cps.gov.uk/cps/news/members-banned-british-neo-nazi-group-jailed; Home Office. "National Action proscription announcement." December 16, 2016. [^2]: CTC West Point. "The Iron March Forum and the Evolution of the 'Skull Mask' Neo-Fascist Network." https://ctc.westpoint.edu/the-iron-march-forum-and-the-evolution-of-the-skull-mask-neo-fascist-network/ [^3]: Crown Prosecution Service. "Life sentence for white supremacist MP murder plot." May 2019. https://www.cps.gov.uk/cps/news/life-sentence-white-supremacist-mp-murder-plot [^4]: Crown Prosecution Service. "Co-founder of right-wing terror group convicted." May 2022. https://www.cps.gov.uk/cps/news/co-founder-right-wing-terror-group-convicted; Counter Terrorism Policing. "Year in review 2018 - National Action convictions." https://www.counterterrorism.police.uk/draft-a-year-in-review-2018-national-action-convictions/ [^5]: R v Hannam, Sentencing Remarks, Central Criminal Court, 4 May 2021. Judge Anthony Leonard QC. https://www.judiciary.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/R-v-Hannam-Setencing-Remarks.pdf; CPS. "Former police officer jailed for National Action membership." 4 May 2021. https://www.cps.gov.uk/cps/news/former-police-officer-jailed-national-action-membership [^6]: HOPE not hate. "Jailed! National Action paedophile behind bars." 29 July 2017. https://hopenothate.org.uk/2017/07/29/jailed-national-action-paedophile-behind-bars/; Jake Hanrahan (@Jake_Hanrahan). Twitter, 11 February 2021. https://x.com/Jake_Hanrahan/status/1360317804600324096