| Hateland -
Articles |
30/06/96
- Hooded thugs preach race hatred
By GARY JONES
Chief Crime Reporter
News of the World
THE sinister white hoods and robes are all too chillingly
familiarmenacing symbols of hatred and fear. Of burnings,
beatings and brutal murder. This is a meeting of the dreaded
Ku Klux Klan.A gathering of evil racists hell bent on
wiping what they call "coloureds" off the face
of the Earth.
Our exclusive picture of these white supremacist devils
at 'prayer' comes moments after they initiated a killer
into their ranks. It was taken secretly at a Klan conclave
in Birmingham. Not Birmingham, Alabama in the racial hotbed
of America's Deep South where the Klan has traditionally
struck terror into black communities. But Birmingham,
England.
For today we reveal how this vile sect has: GAINED a strong
foothold in our country with IRA-style small cells growing
nationwide. SPREAD its tentacles to school gates as it
searches for new, impressionable members. JOINED forces
with the violent and fiercely-racist Nazi group Combat
18, and SET UP a secret military camp to train members
for racist attacks.
We also unmask one of the beasts who leads the British
Ku Klux Klan a smiling thug who lives in a housing estate
among West Indians and Asians. A thug whose first words
to the News of the World's undercover reporter were: "Join
the Klan and help us rid Britain of n*****s."
Our painstaking and dangerous investigation in which our
reporter was initiated into the KKK-penetrates the very
core of the feared sect which guards itself night and
day against discovery. Just to meet members of the highly
security-conscious gang involves a strict vetting procedure.
Secret meetings. Personal documents. Passports. And it
brought our man face to face with two of the most evil
Klan members in Britain.
The rendezvous was Burger King at Birmingham's New Street
station yards from where black mothers ate with their
children. Pot-bellied Nigel Findlay who uses the name
lan Woodcock introduced himself as Grand Kleagle, a leading
member of the British Knights of the Ku Klux Klan. Within
the KKK, the 30-year-old club bouncer is also known as
Exalted Cyclops the mastermind of the Klan's intimidation
campaign.
With him was a sinister shaven-headed pal with a goatee
beard. Called John, he said he was head of Klan security.
Findlay got down to the business of impressing what he
thought was a new recruit. "There are two forms of
protest direct action and violence, and debate. Right
now we want more direct action," said Findlay.
"We could burn the mosques here. There's one which
holds 2,000 people. I'd like to see it burn. I know a
lot of them sleep there overnight." "We're growing
fast at the moment and we're attracting members from the
British National Party because they don't think they're
hard enough. "We're not here to mess around. You've
got to be serious and committed."
Findlay lives with girlfriend Julia and their baby daughter
on a mixed-race housing estate in Willenhall, West Midlands.
He always has a smile for his mainly black neighbours.
But the grin hides a sick desire. "They have n****r
shoots in America where the KKK hunt blacks in forests.
We should do that here," said Findlay.
Then he bragged about how he was recruiting children to
the Klan. The yob who said he wanted his daughter christened
in a special KKK ceremony targets schools in the West
Midlands. "We've put up some posters at schools all
over the area encouraging kids to join," he said.
"We're getting a younger membership all the time,"
He also revealed that he had been on military exercises
at a secret Klan training camp in Portsmouth. "We
learn all sorts of combat techniques," he said. At
the end of the meeting Findlay's shaven-headed friend
John a muscleman who has the title Klarago gave our reporter
permission to join the KKK.
Membership was £10 plus £2.50 monthly to Klan
funds. Our reporter was ordered to attend an initiation
ceremony the next day at a Klavern a group meeting of
chiefs and members. Findlay's Klavern is described in
the KKK bulletin Always Watching as "the biggest
and best in the Midlands".
Before the meeting Findlay took our man to the station
to pick up 18 other would-be members arriving to join
the Klan's growing nationwide network of small IRA-style
cells. One of them, a menacing leather-clad skinhead,
admitted he had served time for killing.
The 30-year-old thug with a spider's web and Union Jack
tattoed on his face confessed to battering a man to death
in Peterborough. "He was fighting a mate of mine.
I smashed him over the head with some scaffolding. He
died," said the killer. "I got four years for
that. I like a bit of trouble."
Another initiate, Coventry clothes shop worker Rob Wild,
handed round photographs of American KKK members holding
an assortment of weapons. Wild, who uses the alias Roger
Wilkes, boasted he was recently involved in an attack
on anti-fascist students. "I like a scrap. I got
seven stitches in one fight," he said.
Other KKK initiates ranged from an 18-year-old university
music student to a retired tube driver from Hackney, east
London. All had followed the same secret instructions
for entry into the Klan. First they wrote to a KKK post
box number in the USA.
A reply, headed by a Klansman on a white charger carrying
a torch, asked for their National Insurance number, bank
details and passport photographs. Then they received an
invitation to a Klavern meeting from Findlay under his
title of Grand Kleagle, Realm of England British Knights
of the KKK.
When everyone had arrived at the station Findlay led them
to the Britannia Hotel where he had booked a suite, claiming
it was for a football presentation. Our reporter and other
initiates were told to wait in the corridor as the KKK
dressed in their robes and began chanting. Suddenly the
door opened and everyone was ushered in.
Inside the room our man came face-to-face with the full
force of the Klan's message of hate. Sick KKK and Combat
18 banners were on the walls. On a table was a crucifix
behind which sat three hooded Klan chiefs. Our man was
asked his about his religious background.
When he said he was Church of England Findlay said: "We
don't like them. They give money to coloureds. But our
Kludd (chaplain) can teach you our faith." Our reporter
was quizzed at length until the chiefs told him he had
passed the initiation tests.
But before he could pledge allegiance to the Klan, he
had to make his escape when a security aide found secret
recording equipment. The angry KKK members quickly disrobed
and gathered their banners and crucifix before charging
after him. Once in the street, fearing their cover was
blown, they fled, covering their faces.
Their leader Findlay, who bounces at Mr Bs nightclub in
Willenhall, is known to West Midlands police. The thug,
who bragged he would never be exposed, made death threats
when our reporter contacted him yesterday. "We've
got a top ten of people on our hit list and you've made
it," he yelled. "We'll get you."
Now we are making our dossier of evidence on Findlay and
his Ku Klux Klan henchman available to the police. Last
night Gerry Gable, editor of international anti-fascist
magazine Searchlight, praised our investigation.
"The KKK are active everywhere," he warned.
"If anybody thinks the Klan is a joke, a political
fancy dress party, they should look at their criminal
records. People should be very worried." |
| Contact : bernard.omahoney@bernardomahoney.com |
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