Prosecution of the Heretical Two (H2)
Simon Sheppard was found guilty on Friday July 14, 2008 of eleven counts of ‘publishing material deemed likely to be racially inflammatory’ – all relating to internet publishing posted in Torrance, California – words protected by the First Amendment! Stephen Whittle (Luke O’Farrell) was found guilty on five counts also relating to internet publishing. The case had some analogies with the (failed) extradition hearings in London for Dr Toben’s deportation for trial in Germany for ‘holocaust denial’ and with the Zundel trial. However the Germans claim jurisdiction over German nationals even if they post material on the internet abroad and/or live abroad. In the case of the H2 an English court went further still by asserting jurisdiction over writings on the internet if they could be downloaded in England.
Simon’s remaining seven charges were considered by the jury the following Monday. These related mainly to printed material on which the jury was unable to reach a decision. However, they left over the weekend for Ireland, then flew to Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) and surrendered to officials in order to seek political asylum in the U.S.A.
The law over internet publishing in the UK had been reinterpreted without debate to end freedom of speech on the internet, presumably acting on the orders of their masters in the E.U. and the Heretical Two were facing the imminent prospect of lengthy prison sentences. They were held by the Department of Homeland Security (D.H.S.) at Santa Ana Jail, California, USA. Correspondents were asked not to place return address stickers on envelopes; as all letters with labels of any kind were sent back marked unauthorized. They could only send two replies per week so used this site to thank the many people who had already written with messages of support and requested they kept writing, as it all helped. They also thanked those who contributed to the defence funds.
The first immigration court session was held on September 17 with Bruce Leichty who was hired as defence attorney. The judge claimed that she did not have the power to release the Heretical Two under the defensive procedures adopted by the US authorities. The ‘asylum-only proceedings’ for the Heretical Two was heard by immigration judge, Rose Peters, on October 14. An attempt to get them released before the ruling on asylum was denied by the judge, whose reasoning appeared contradictory. At the ‘calendar meeting’ of the immigration court on Thursday 13 November – the judge set the merits (main) appeal for three afternoons in blocks of four hours from 2 pm on March 10, 12 and 24 of 2009.
The H2 were still detained in jail in California for activities in America which the British government now deems to be crimes, i.e. exercising the right to free speech, but which ironically are not held to be crimes under American law.
In December 2008 Simon’s retrial was held in his absence, as the British government was not prepared to wait for the outcome of the political asylum proceedings in the US. The new trial commenced on Monday December 8 at Leeds Crown Court and six charges were considered – one charge was dropped. The trial was deferred on December 22 to January 5, 2009 – the following day the jury went out to deliberate and on January 8 found Simon guilty on three counts relating to Tales of the Holohoax and later in the day, by a majority verdict on two charges relating to Don’t be Sheeple – even Professor Rabkin’s cogent arguments that the Jews were a religion and not a race had failed to impress the jury.
The establishment had so far effectively managed to contain reporting on the trials and asylum attempt to cold and slanted reports in the Yorkshire and Lancashire media, without any discussion of the many issues arising from the case. The H2 belatedly obtained considerable publicity in this area – The Yorkshire Post carried the most extensive reports, but was extremely biased, to the point of dishonesty. The Main Hearing on March 10 only lasted 90 minutes and concerned documentation.
Reports on the Hearings on 12 and 24 March, 2009 follow: …. the Heretical Two’s asylum hearing proceeded before the U.S. Immigration Judge, Judge Rose Peters. Simon Sheppard and Steve Whittle (who were brought into court in handcuffs and leg irons, which, they confirmed, was standard procedure when asylum seekers are held in detention pending the hearing of their case, and not victimization of themselves) – the H2 presented their own cases. The U.S. government was represented by its attorney, Miss Myers. The Court heard evidence from Simon and Steve about their experiences at the hands of the British police and Crown Prosecution Service, and also from their English counsel, Adrian Davies, who gave evidence about the relevant provisions of English law (the Public Order Act 1986, as amended) and the English Court’s assertion of jurisdiction over web pages hosted on a server located in Torrance, California. The hearing was conducted in a very fair, courteous and thorough manner, though inevitably Simon and Steve were at some disadvantage, because they are not lawyers, and are moreover being held in prison, where they have had very limited facilities to prepare for the hearing.
After a lengthy sitting, the Court adjourned to 1 p.m., West Coast time, on March 24, when Simon and Steve addressed the Court on their own behalf, and Miss Myers made representations on behalf of the U. S. government. [Report ends]. On, Tuesday, 24 March, HHJ Peters heard closing arguments from Miss Myers, counsel for the U. S. government, and Messrs Sheppard and Whittle on their own behalf. At the conclusion of the argument, HHJ Peters reserved judgment, which was to be handed down in writing in due course. Since the case of the Heretical Two involved unusual questions of fact and law and more documentary evidence than is usual in asylum hearings, the judge’s decision to reserve her judgment was not surprising. It was delivered within 30 days. In the meanwhile, Messrs Sheppard and Whittle remained in Santa Ana jail.
The Leeds Crown Court Hearing on March 30 was deferred until May 15 to await the decision of the American asylum court. There was been further limited reporting in the UK – Yorkshire Post March 31 and Hull and East Riding News March 28.
The Heretical Two lost their Claim for asylum on April 5, 2009 – Anglo-phobic ‘judge’ Peters, had previously supported the cause of Sean Kelly (O’Cealleagh). She granted asylum to this IRA member because “it was a purely political case.” Kelly was one of three men sentenced to life for the public beating, stripping and shooting of Corporals Derek Wood and David Howes in Belfast in 1988. He had been released under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement, relocated to the USA, and then post-9/11 served with a deportation order. The H2 had 30 days to appeal against the, clearly, pre-determined decision, but Simon subsequently contacted the authorities to say that they would not appeal. Simon and Steve were deported from LAX on June 16, arrived in London June 17, where they were arrested, taken briefly to Leeds Crown Court, and then to prison. The Heretical Two would like to express their sincere thanks to all their American supporters who wrote with letters of support, visited and sent in funds.
The H2 appeared in Leeds Crown Court again on Friday on July 10 2009 for sentencing. Simon received a very harsh sentence of 4 years and 10 months sentence and Stephen – two years and four months. Simon’s sentence comprised 12 months concurrent on the three counts relating to Tales of the Holohoax, followed by a consecutive sentence of 12 months in aggregate on the two counts relating to Don’t Be Sheeple, followed by two years and six months in aggregate on the eleven Internet counts, followed by four months on the Bail Act charge.
On Tuesday, July 14 the Court of Appeal (Richards LJ, Jack J and HHJ Baker QC) gave leave to appeal against conviction on all the Internet counts, but refused leave to appeal with respect to the hard copy counts.
A forfeiture hearing took place on Friday July 31st before Judge Grant at Leeds. The judge decided every contested point against Simon and contravened the letter, as well as the spirit of the law, as many items had been illegally seized by the police in the first place on their three raids. He ordered the forfeiture and destruction of large amounts of valuable office equipment – mainly comprising large printers, which Simon had serviced. An appeal was lodged against sentence re: forfeiture of the printers, computers and other office equipment was heard at the same time as the internet publishing appeal, i.e. not within the statutory twenty-one days. This full appeal hearing before three judges was held on Thursday November 26 and 27, 2009 at the Law Courts, Strand, London.
An appeal is being made to the European Court of Human Rights over the decision by the Leeds Appeal Court judge not to review the notorious decision in Reg. v. Birdwood when Judge Pownall’s decision that “the truth is no defence” in race cases was upheld. This appeal should result in some useful publicity in a few years’ time. Stephen was moved from HMP Leeds (Armley prison) to the lower category Everthorpe Prison in East Yorkshire, but Simon remained at Armley voluntarily as a category C prisoner, as he had a “decent job in the print shop.” On January 29, 2010 – news was received that the appeal against conviction on internet publishing on a foreign website was lost. The appeal against forfeiture of good was also lost.
Fortunately, the appeal judges ruled the sentences were excessive and reduced Simon Sheppard’s sentence by a year to 3 years and 10 months and Stephen Whittle’s sentence by six months to 1 year and 10 months. Leave to appeal against sentence was granted on internet publishing, but appeal with respect to the forfeiture of goods order was denied. A subsequent appeal court hearing certified “points of law of general importance” which enables the H2 to directly petition the Supreme Court for the right to appeal on these points.
The Supreme Court of the United Kingdom, formerly the judicial committee of the House of Lords, refused the H2 leave to appeal (no surprise there then!!!). It is the practice of this Court not to give reasons for refusing leave to appeal, whereas it would be considered an error of law for any other court not to give reasons for its decisions. The H2 are now entitled to petition the European Court of Human Rights for leave to appeal to that court, which they could not do before, as would-be petitioners are obliged to exhaust all domestic recourse first. All Simon’s office equipment has now been destroyed by the Authorities – who are exuding quiet satisfaction over a ‘job well done.’
Meanwhile, Steve, out on bail at a bail hostel in Blackburn which he found fairly agreeable, was caught in a minor breach of his bail conditions a few weeks after his release, and sent to Preston prison in June 2010. He was found by the police using the internet in Blackburn public library. The UK is not so different from China and Burma in its treatment of political dissidents – except that there are far fewer of them, as most opposition is safely contained within the system – genuine opponents are hysterically denounced as ‘racists’ and ‘nazis’ by the covertly controlled media. Four months later Steve was released back to the bail hostel, and finished his sentence in mid April 2011.
On 15th July 2010 Simon Sheppard was moved from Armley to a privately run prison – HMP Wolds and was ‘downgraded’ to a category D prisoner. He was moved again – this time to HMP Sudbury in Derbyshire on December 17, 2010. This is an open prison and has a good reputation and extensive grounds, but has large numbers of Moslem prisoners and “racist incident report boxes everywhere you looked.” On Wednesday 22 December, five days later, three prison officers arrived at 7.30 am and he was handcuffed to a Negro officer, in a deliberate attempt to provoke him, he was then banged up in a segregated holding cell to await transport back to HMP Wolds. The Prison governor refused to explain the reason for this apparent abuse of authority, but Simon was later informed that his ‘offence’ put him in a special security classification which meant that the jail could not allocate him – a higher office had to give permission, but this procedure had been ‘overlooked.’ The allocation to Sudbury was therefore flawed, so he had to be shipped back to HMP Wolds. His treatment, ostensibly, had nothing to do with his actions in prison [but more to do with his views and comments made by supporters?]…Simon was kept at HMP Wolds in East Yorkshire until May 17.
He was then released under licence from prison, and escorted to a bail hostel in York. He is now subject to ‘MAPPA3,’ the only one in North Yorkshire, as he is classed as one of the ‘critical few!’ This regime involves two roll calls per day, case conferences by senior police and probation service, and no internet access. “MAPPA3 is for high risk, or high profile offenders, it is not exclusively for sex offenders.” The usual stay at the hostel is 12 weeks, but he could be obliged to stay there until the expiry of his licence in 2013 – depending on various factors, such as availability of somewhere else to live. This is a back door way of increasing his sentence and he has been treated as if he were a recidivist criminal, or a dangerous paedophile. However, the hostel is small and at least he is now be able to go out and visit a library, park, or cafe…
Simon reports that he is spending his time productively and is writing a book on psychology.
