Far-right podcaster quoted Nazi leader, court told

An alleged far-right fitness guru with a group known as Patriotic Alternative claimed Adolf Hitler "showed people the way", a court has heard.

Kristofer Kearney, 39, from Liverpool, shared posts encouraging violence against Jews and Muslims.

Known online as Charlie Big Potatoes, he told fellow Telegram users the Nazi dictator did "nothing wrong".

He posted quotes from Hitler in a private chat group called "west is best", the Old Bailey was told.

Kearney previously pleaded guilty to two counts of disseminating terrorist publications. He was based in Alicante before he was extradited from Spain to face charges last September.

Prosecutors said his posts also described Jewish people as "responsible for a lot of the world's ills".

The Old Bailey heard the defendant was a regular host of a right-wing podcast called Patriotic Talk, and had set up a channel called Fascist Fitness to hand out exercise and fitness tips.

He was believed to be the "head of fitness" at Patriotic Alternative.

An image of Kearney with a National Action flag was also shown to the court.

He is said to have been an active member of the neo-Nazi group until a week before it was banned for glorifying the murder of MP Jo Cox.

Kearney is thought to be the first member of the group to be convicted of terrorist offences.

On Friday, his defence barrister Ged O'Connor was set to argue his pleas were made on the basis he was "reckless" as to whether the effect of his conduct was to encourage terrorism.

Prosecutor Naomi Parsons told the court themes of the defendant's Telegram channel included "white genocide", antisemitism and the glorification of Nazi Germany.

"Those themes are depicted by violence," Ms Parsons said.

"There are numerous videos that suggest violence is looming, violence is inevitable. The evidence is consistent with intent rather than recklessness.

"It is evident from the defendant himself - the images and words he has said which suggest he is of the mind that violence is inevitable and that others should commit acts of violence."

The offences relate to two Telegram posts on 23 January and 8 March which disseminated dozens of documents encouraging extreme right-wing terror attacks, including the manifestos of Christchurch mosque killer Brenton Tarrant and Anders Breivik, who murdered 77 people in Norway.

In 2021, he posted a numbered list and links to 89 extreme right-wing documents.

The issue of Kearney's motivation is being decided in a hearing likely to last two days, before the judge passes sentence.

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