Neo-nazi student convicted on terror and hate charges

A neo-Nazi student who carved a swastika into his girlfriend’s buttock has been found guilty of terror and hate offences.

Andrew Dymock, 24, the middle-class son of academics, told jurors “thank you for killing me” after he was found guilty of 15 charges, including 12 terrorism-related offences, in 2017 and 2018 by a jury at the Old Bailey on Friday.

The court heard how he promoted the extreme right-wing System Resistance Network (SRN) group, which aimed to “stir up a race war”, through a Twitter account and a website.

He used online platforms to raise money for the now-banned organisation, which “preached zero-tolerance” to non-whites, Jewish and Muslim communities and described homosexuality as a “disease”.

Police found a picture on one of Dymock’s devices showing a swastika cut into his girlfriend’s buttock and he told detectives in a January 2019 interview he had used his nail to scratch the symbol.

He told a jury the malicious activity included “people in the police or other agencies” who were sympathetic to NA and seeking to protect his ex-girlfriend.

But he was found guilty of five charges of encouraging terrorism, two of fundraising for terrorism, four counts of disseminating terrorist publications, possessing a terrorist document, stirring up racial hatred and hatred based on sexual orientation, and possessing racially inflammatory material.

Dymock closed his eyes and shook his head as the verdicts were delivered, then looked to his parents, Stella and Dr David Dymock, a professor of dentistry at Bristol University, who he lives with in Bath, Somerset, in the public gallery.

With tears in his eyes he asked to say goodbye to his mother and father before he was taken down to the cells, telling jurors: “Thank you for killing me”, while his mother said: “National Action has done this.”

Dymock was remanded in custody by Judge Mark Dennis QC until sentencing on June 24.

Prosecutor Jocelyn Ledward earlier told jurors he was not being prosecuted for holding racist, anti-Semitic or homophobic beliefs, or for his “adherence to a neo-Nazi creed”.

She said: “Rather, he is facing prosecution for his encouragement of terrorist activity, of violence, as a means to shape society in accordance with his beliefs, rather than through free speech and democracy.”

An examination of Dymock’s computer revealed longstanding extremist views dating back to when he was aged 17, including a Google translation of the words “Kill all of the Jews”.

On October 8 2017, he wrote about the creation of SRN on a right-wing webpage stating that the group was “focused on building a group of loyal men, true to the cause of National Socialism and establishing the Fascist state through revolution”.

Ms Ledward said SRN was one of a small number of groups which filled a “dubious gap” left following the proscription of far-right group National Action and was itself banned in 2020.

Jurors heard how Dymock was expelled from SRN in late February 2018.

Dymock was arrested at Gatwick Airport in connection with other matters, where he had intended to board a flight to America in June 2018.

Police found in his luggage extreme right-wing literature including Siege, an anthology of pro-Nazi essays written by James Mason, and Mein Kampf, along with clothing bearing neo-Nazi logos.

He also had books, flags, clothes and badges with links to the extreme right wing in his bedroom at home and university.

Dymock claimed he was “set up” by others, and that material linking him to content on the SRN website and Twitter account was “planted in his possession without his knowledge”.

He denied being a neo-Nazi and told police: “In fact, I am bisexual but lean towards being homosexual, in direct conflict with Nazism.”

And he told jurors he had the Adolf Hitler’s autobiographical manifesto – along with books on Satanism – for “research” on right-wing populism.