Barnsley man had 'terrorist manual' and 'idolised Hitler', trial hears

A man accused of possessing extreme right-wing material had a "terrorist manual" and "idolises Hitler", a jury has been told.

Ashley Podsiad-Sharp, of Cudworth, Barnsley, had set up a club to train like-minded right-wing extremists, Sheffield Crown Court heard.

At his trial on Thursday, prosecutors said the 42-year-old "lived and breathed" racist views.

Mr Podsiad-Sharp has denied disseminating a terrorist document.

He has also pleaded not guilty to possession of a document containing information of a kind likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism.

Prosecutors said Mr Podsiad-Sharp was the founder of an organisation known as the White Stag Athletics Club.

He had also created a channel for the group on the messaging app Telegram, calling himself "Sarge", the court heard.

A document described as a "terrorist manual" was found on a laptop in his dining room, prosecutors added.

Denise Breen-Lawton, prosecuting, said Mr Podsiad-Sharp "says he has no idea how that document ended up on his laptop and he just cannot explain it".

Ms Breen-Lawton told the jury this was "utter nonsense" as it was securely stored in an encrypted "virtual safe", protected by passwords which he eventually provided to the police.

She said it was also copied to another hard drive and uploaded to file-sharing site Dropbox.

Ms Breen-Lawton said extreme right-wing texts were also found in the defendant's home, including a copy of Hitler's Mein Kampf manifesto.

Knives, an axe and a bow and arrow were also seized, the court heard.

Ms Breen-Lawton told the court: "The defendant is a racist, homophobic, neo-Nazi terrorist. That is the prosecution case.

"He glorifies and idolises Adolf Hitler and everything the Nazi movement stood for and is still standing for."

She added: "The defendant hates Jews, hates people of colour, hates homosexuals and he believes in the supremacy of the white man."

The trial is due to continue on Tuesday.

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