Image by Getty Images

(JTA) — A neo-Nazi couple in Britain who named their baby after Hitler were found guilty of being members of a banned terrorist group.

Adam Thomas, 22, and Claudia Patatas, 38, were convicted on Monday in Birmingham Crown Court in Britain’s West Midlands region for being members of the extreme right-wing organization, National Action. The group was banned in 2016.

The couple had given their baby son the middle name Adolf out of “admiration for the Nazi leader,” Thomas told the jury during the seven-week trial.

Forwarding the News

Thoughtful, balanced reporting from the Forward and around the web, bringing you updated news and analysis each day.

Terms(Required)

I agree to the Forward's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy

Email(Required)

Photographs taken by police from their home showed Thomas, who had worked as a security guard, carefully holding his newborn baby while wearing the hood and white robes associated with the Ku Klux Klan.

Thomas also was convicted of having a terrorist manual, titled the “Anarchist’s Cookbook,” which contained instructions on making actual working bombs.

During the trial Thomas admitted to being a racist, but said it is “something I want to put behind me,” the Guardian reported. He said that his parents were “common racists” and that his participation in chat groups where he had made anti-Semitic and racist remarks to other alleged National Action members “was entertaining to me at the time. It was funny at the time.”

Six other West Midlands residents also have been found guilty of being members of the banned extremist group in recent days. The National Action cell displayed hatred of Jews and Muslims in their encrypted online chats, according to The Guardian.

The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.

Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.

Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.

This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism you rely on. Make a gift today!

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

$90 $180

$360

Other amount