National Action has launched a "laughable investigative journalism" series called 'Paedo Hunt', despite one of its own members being convicted of a sex crime against a vulnerable teenager.
In its first dispatch the far-right group, whose members are currently being investigated for performing a 'Heil Hitler' salute at a Nazi death camp, posted a video on YouTube showing one of its members confronting a young Asian man about text messages he had supposedly exchanged with a 13-year-old girl.
YouTube removed the clip for "breaching harassment and bullying policies" 24 hours after it was uploaded on May 21, however, it has since been posted on numerous other video sharing platforms.
National Action has adopted the hashtag - #occupypaedophillia - for its series in what it says is a "tribute" to the Russian vigilante group of the same name who lured gay men, under the pretence of a date, before torturing and humiliating them on camera. Six members of the group were jailed for up to six years last year.
National Actions' targeting of paedophiles is somewhat "ironic", according to the charity Hope not Hate, given ones of its own members, Ryan Fleming, is a convicted sex offender.
Fleming, who spoke at one of the group's rallies in Newcastle in January, has a conviction for the false imprisonment and sexual assault of a teenager dating back to 2011.
Fleming was jailed for 26 months for what was described as a “degrading and humiliating” attack on a teenager with special needs. The victim was assaulted, shaved, cut and sexually assaulted at a house party in Leeds in front of onlookers.
According to a report in the Yorkshire Evening Post, Judge Christopher Batty said of the victim’s two-hour ordeal: “There aren’t many cases that genuinely shock. This is one.”
The irony of National Action's new series did not escape other far-right observers, with several people pointing out on Twitter in recent weeks that perhaps the group should investigate itself.
"National Action's laughable #occupypaedophilia campaign - why not start with your own self-admitted sex offender Ryan Fleming lads?," one user wrote.
In the first Paedo Hunt episode a National Action member implies that a young man he confronts on camera at an unknown park is there to meet a 13-year-old girl called Jesse. The activist claims to have exchanged messages with the man while pretending to be the teenager. The confronted man does not indulge the accusation and genuinely looks confused by the situation.
The accosted man is repeatedly told not to walk away as the National Action member, who refuses to identify himself, will "catch him".
"You don't need to know who the fuck I am mate... I'm from... I wouldn't walk away mate cause I will," the National Action member says before continuing: "You're here to meet a 13-year-old girl called Jesse. Your name is.... I've got the messages here. I've got the fucking messages here."
The man is then threatened as he attempts to flee.
"I'm from National Action, we're a white nationalist organisation and we're here to fuck you cunts up." The video ends a few seconds later.
A message on the video removed from YouTube explains: "We want you to use YouTube without fear of being subjected to malicious harassment. In cases where harassment crosses the line into a malicious attack it can be reported and will be removed."
On its website National Action wrote that the original video "racked up about 8000 views" before it was taken down. It was then shared, the group claim, by a Facebook group called Patriotic Britons Against Mass Immigration, and has been viewed 50,000 times. On Dailymotion the clip has been watched around 1,600 times.
Despite its video clearly showing the identity of the man confronted in the park, National Action says it will "protect the anonymity of our investigators who do not wish to be harassed".
All future videos, the group writes, will be "submitted anonymously and uploaded by third parties in other countries".
National Action explicitly states it has no intention of assisting police prosecutions: "We will not be co-operating with the authorities in any way as it does not concern them until such a time as they take these crimes seriously. Expect to see more episodes in the future."
On this basis, Hope not Hate's director of research, Matthew Collins, says it is clear National Action's series is just a "pathetic attempt to lure an Asian man to the park for violence". The theory is further supported by the fact the group offers viewers no evidence of the accosted man's alleged criminal behaviour during the minute-long video, he says.
Collins said National Action are "obsessed with paedophilia... it's even in their own ranks... and sex in general; sex with no boundaries, beastiality and snuff movies". As well as Fleming, "at least one other" member of the group is a convicted sex offender, he said.
Collins said police and the general public should be concerned about "vigilantism", but he added National Action was "just a bunch of silly pathetic boys who were not intelligent enough to know what they're doing".
"They're like a ridiculous art project that just doesn't know when to die... they're letting down the entire far-right movement."
"They're an embarrassment," Collins added.
Merseyside Police, who have arguably had the most dealings with National Action following the group's failed White Man March in Liverpool, declined to comment on the Paedo Hunt video as it was not clear where the confrontation had taken place.
The National Police Chief Council, however, condemned it.
The national policing lead on child abuse investigation, chief constable Simon Bailey, said cases involving child sex abuse "are extremely serious", and while police appreciate the public's help in identifying offenders, he said "vigilantes like this should not continue because they are taking risks they don't understand".
“They're like a ridiculous art project that just doesn't know when to die... they're letting down the entire far-right movement"”
Bailey said revealing the identity of suspected paedophiles gives the suspect the "opportunity to destroy evidence before the police can investigate" and in no way safeguards victims. It can also lead to suspects "going missing or raising concerns for their safety" which can divert police resources away from advancing prosecutions, he explained.
The chief constable added a further danger lay in "wrongly" accusing someone of being a sex offender, which can have fatal consequences: "If someone is wrongly accused of being a paedophile in a hugely public way that makes people who live with them, live near them, work with them assume they have committed the offence.
"The temptation to kill themselves may be just as great even if they are innocent; that is an appalling consequence to contemplate."
On its website National Action explains that it will be "verbally confronting" men who seek sex with "underage white girls".
The "activist" in its maiden video, the group explains, is a "seasoned paedophile hunter" who has previously submitted dozens of reports to police, "yet has never seen a single prosecution".
"Professional investigators", such as Stinson Hunter, the director of the critically acclaimed documentary, The Paedophile Hunter, National Action notes, has only managed to secure 30 convictions "in his years of work".
"And for this was attacked by the press and police spokesmen as an irresponsible vigilante," National Action writes, before also referencing authorities failings in investigating and prosecuting grooming gangs in Rotherham.
"As the abuse of our young girls is condoned by the authorities who would certainly be much more interested in investigating the ‘far-right extremist’ submitting the report, we will be taking a new and alternative approach to that taken by the traditional perverted justice doctrine.
"Instead of operating under pretence (sic) of a serious and fruitless legal process, the pattern of which is recognised by all but the stupidest of paedophiles, thereby leaving a social clique which has never been exposed."
National Action goes on to explain that they won't provide the names of the alleged sex offenders it confronts to police, rather through their "own form of journalism", it will give "visibility to a social issue, and free from red tape" will put "the fear of god into those who would hurt our children".
Alleged paedophiles will be confronted in public places, National Action explains on its website, filmed and "socially shamed". Activists "are allowed to give chase, but that is all anyone will ever know".
"The point is to send a message, to make our presence known; that in front of young white girls stand a new breed of strong, determined, and moral men – National Socialists, who in their hearts wish death on all enemies of our race."