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On the trail of names on leaked BNP ‘member’ list

Sunday Life tracks down the Northern Ireland ‘members’ of controversial party

Sunday, 23 November 2008

Ex-cop Sandy Alexander says he's proud to be a member of the British National Party

Ex-cop Sandy Alexander says he's proud to be a member of the British National Party

A pretty blonde mum from Bangor, a lonely heart ex-RUC officer and a former fire chief are among the Northern Ireland people whose names have appeared on a leaked list belonging to the far-right British National Party.

Sunday Life has been tracking down some of the 39 local people named on the alleged membership list of around 13,000 people UK wide.

The BNP leadership has confirmed the list that has been spread across the internet is largely accurate, but say some non-members names had been added to create mischief.

One Northern Ireland man who openly says he’s proud to be a member of the BNP is ex-RUC officer Sandy Alexander from Portstewart.

The lonely heart divorcee may support the BNP’s tough anti-immigration policies, but he certainly seems to enjoy the company of foreigners having developed online friendships with a string of Thai beauties on a social network site.

Ex-cop Sandy describes himself as “fun-loving”, “romantic” and a “good listener” on his Friendster site where he has posted pictures of himself posing with a machine gun, his sports car and in his old RUC uniform.

The divorced dad-of-three says he’s “still looking for his ideal lady” and the dating site reveals that most of his online contacts are with women who live in Bangkok.

Last week Sandy told the BBC how he was proud to be a member of the BNP after his name appeared on list of party members leaked on the Internet.

“I'm in a party I firmly believe in and why should I not hold my head high like anyone else,” he said.

The BNP supports a policy ending immigration and repatriation of immigrants already residing in the UK.

When Sunday Life tried to contact Sandy at his Portstewart home last week, his telephone number was dead.

Former Dungannon fire chief Harry Martin — a one-time vice-president of the UK Retired Fire Fighters Association — said he had made a one-off payment to the BNP, but then charged his mind about joining the far right party a short time later.

Mr Martin, who now works as a lollypop man, said: “I realised it was important that I was neutral. The fire brigade is neutral and I have always been neutral.

“There was just one particular thing they were doing at that time that I agreed with and I can’t remember what it was.”

A pretty blonde mum from Bangor and her husband are also among those revealed as members of the British National Party.

Young professionals Andy and Lisa Giltrap say they were in the BNP for about a year and attended a number of party meetings, but are no longer members.

Husband Andy told Sunday Life: “I would stress we are not racist in anyway.”

He added that the BNP had been unfairly branded as a Nazi group by the media.

“I do care about being British and I do believe we are being overrun by immigrants. I support the party’s policy of controlled immigration,” he said.

“In the time we were in the BNP we attended meetings and we met a lot of good people. We never met anyone who was racist.

“There were old ladies and all kinds of people at those meetings. They were people who concerned about issues like immigration. People were seeing what has been happening in England, there are areas where people just can’t go into.”

Mr Giltrap said he joined the BNP via the internet because at the time he passionately agreed with many of the party’s policies — particularly those on immigration, capital punishment and education.

He said he took out family membership as his wife broadly shared his views.

He added that he still agreed with many of the BNP’s views, but had left about a year ago as his interest had waned.

On her Bebo website Lisa Giltrap says her favourite past-time is “going out with my friends on the booze and making an ass of myself”.

One message posted some time ago on Lisa’s website was from a woman friend from Carryduff who said: “BNP. We’re gonna be a MINORITY, in 25 years your kids are gonna get beaten up for being white. Sure thing Lisa.”

Another message from a man called Stevie and posted long before the BNP list was leaked, said: “Up the BNP. Happy Hannukah!!”

Mr Giltrap said his wife could not be responsible for messages posted on a Bebo site she rarely used, but added that he knew the man who sent the “Up the BNP” message and described him as an “idiot”.

Squaddie Gary Wilkinson from Ballycarry, Co Antrim was another named on the leaked BNP list. The serving soldier no longer lives at the address that was held on the BNP’s now-exposed membership list.

Oddly, for someone who appears on the BNP’s membership list, Wilkinson complains on his Bebo website that he hates England.

“I know loads of nice English people, but in general they are ignorant,” he says.

After his name was one of dozens of Ulster names leaked last week by a former BNP activist, his website was being attacked by anti-BNP campaigners.

When Sunday Life contacted his family home his mother confirmed that he had received mail from the BNP, but added “he wasn’t interested in it” and the mail was never forwarded on. She added: “He doesn’t have anything to do with it. There was paperwork came in at a time, but I haven’t been forwarding anything on to him.”

Another person on the list is North Belfast pensioner Margaret Weir who told Sunday Life she was horrified and mystified that her name and details appeared on the list. She says she has never been a member of the BNP.

“I’d never even heard of the BNP until Tuesday night and I don’t understand how my name got on this list. I don’t agree with what they stand for,” she said.

“The first I knew anything about it was when I got a crank call on Tuesday night. I thought the man said BP and was trying to sell

me oil. I’ve had about six crank calls since then. I’ve no idea how my name got on my list. It’s very worrying,” she said.

The fearful pensioner asked that we use her name so that she could publicly deny having anything to do with the BNP, but did not want us to publish her full address.

The BNP is a perfectly legal party although serving police officers are banned from being members.

Merseyside police, which has ordered an investigation into one of its police officers whose name appeared on the BNP list, issued a statement saying: “We are very clear, membership of the BNP is totally incompatible with the duties and values of the police service. We will not accept a police officer or police staff being a member.”

The Association of Chief Police Officers said all 43 constabularies were examining the list to see whether any of their serving officers were on it.

BNP leader Nick Griffin did confirm the list was largely accurate, but he said said some non-members names had been added to create mischief.

The anti-racist group Searchlight believes the leaked list overstated membership by 2,000. Instead, it thought it was a target list for potential donors and recipients of propaganda material, among them past and present members.

The full UK wide list includes 16 serving and more than 50 former soldiers, five civil servants, 15 teachers and several church ministers.

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24 Comments

While not a member,its a legal party,people are entitled to be members. Never here much about the far left, in this country

Posted by UNIONCRUISER | 30.11.08, 16:55 GMT

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I would have thought that journalists in Ulster of all places would be more circumspect about invading people's privacy and revealing personal details. People are only embarrassed about BNP membership because the Liberal Establishment have institutionalised discrimination against the party. If you're in the BNP, you have less civil rights. In a free society, this is a disgrace.

The road to hell is paved with good intentions

Posted by rhory fraser | 26.11.08, 18:06 GMT

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Sandy Alexander clearly illustrates the hypocrisy that is rife and open amongst BNP members. Most people round here I know who have voted for them have because of concerns with NEW immigration. The party has done very in hiding their racist agenda towards people born and bred in the UK who don't fit the racial profile. I've found that when people find this out they switch to the Tories.

Posted by James | 26.11.08, 11:44 GMT

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Just 1 thing to say about this.

Would police have lost there jobs if a leaked Labour or Tory membership .

No officer in active duty can support any party!!!!

Posted by Dave | 26.11.08, 08:42 GMT

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well go check out their website and make up your minds folks. no need to be told what to think is there?

Posted by Greg | 24.11.08, 19:48 GMT

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if the bnp are a legal political party why cant people join without losing their jobs

Posted by grizzly | 24.11.08, 17:35 GMT

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They are a party like any other and each and everyone of us is entitled to have our political opinions and vote for the party we feel best represents what we believe in so I don't see why people are being shamed for following the BNP.
If the mainstream political parties were acting on the wishes of the people then the BNP would not have this following.

Posted by J | 24.11.08, 16:15 GMT

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Political correctness is getting out hand! Why can't people from here express their opinions without being hounded by the 'P.C. Gang'.

People are coming here to join our society, but cry 'offence' when anything is said about their culture or prophets.

The word 'Christmas' has been banned in places here. School plays have been cancelled. There have been open threats to society in the western world, because of a cartoon! In England, they were (maybe still are) considering introducing laws which specifically apply to Muslims i.e. allowing Muslim men to have more than one wife! That's illegal here!

When one emigrates, it is their responsibility to integrate into society, not society's duty to change to suit a culture they have left behind!

Posted by Mark | 24.11.08, 14:15 GMT

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the party owes its success to the mainstream parties who have total disdain for democracy when it comes to immigration legislation. none of the four parties truly represent the citizens of the uk, to their everlasting shame. same situation over here.

Posted by Rowan | 24.11.08, 13:41 GMT

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The full UK wide list includes

16 serving and more than 50 former soldiers,

5 civil servants,

15 teachers and several church ministers

Even a Chelsea pensioner

Posted by John Beatson | 24.11.08, 12:57 GMT

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You couldn't make the stuff up. The former policeman who likes Thai women, the guy who says he dislikes the English, the couple from Bangor who say that they are being overrun by immigrants! Yes Bangor was a bit like a ghetto the last time I was there!

Then we have bnp supporters crying freedom of speech, police state, blah blah.

What a load of rubbish. They are ignorant, and so are there supporters.

Posted by Keith | 24.11.08, 12:40 GMT

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Terry and Terence do you have an actual opinion on this story or do you just trawl comments looking for bad English?

We live in a democracy and rightly or wrongly we have and are entitled to an opinion. Personally I do not support the views of BNP and even if I did I would never join it since I don't live in Britain. Shame on the Sunday Life for attempting to airing peoples dirty linen in public.

Posted by GDW | 24.11.08, 12:25 GMT

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I think they should be named and shamed at every opportunity, did we fight a world war just to adopt extreme right wing attitudes ourselves? The BNP are an insult to our war dead.

Posted by ian | 24.11.08, 12:24 GMT

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Its quite a curious thing, this "victimisation" of the BNP. After all, this is a party that wants to victimise the millions of foreign people legitimately living in the uK and forcibly return them to their place of origin.

Posted by laura | 24.11.08, 12:16 GMT

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I abhor the polices of this 'party' - the comments by David and R. Anderson highlight very nicely why. However how can we claim to live in a democracy when people are being sacked from their jobs for belonging to a political party? The BNP should be paradoxically celebrated in this country for showing just how democratic our society and way of government is, instead after witnessing the fall out from this debacle and the thirst for blood for the members of this party it seems we are run by people who display the same facist tendencies as those they seek to dismiss from their jobs - McCarthyism anyone?

Posted by Ian | 24.11.08, 12:04 GMT

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Be a member of the BNP all you want, but they're wrong on every single thing they believe in. People who support them have legitmate concerns, but the BNP twist their fears and bring in issues of religion and race. They exaggerate claims of crime and immigration to their own ends. Also, they want to bring the Republic back under British rule, which is just ridiculous.

Posted by S | 24.11.08, 11:42 GMT

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Laughable stuff, all this, go to parts of Spain & Italy, then you'll see real right wing politics at its best. People have the right to be members of the BNP but in our politically correct left wing society, they'll get hammered.

Posted by Stephen | 24.11.08, 11:32 GMT

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I suppose the irony has escaped you Jim. Isn't it a tad contradictory to claim that demonisation of 'normal people' for supporting the BNP with the one breath and voicing concern about left wing traitors with the next?

Posted by Miriam Binder | 24.11.08, 11:16 GMT

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the media are demonising normal people,whats wrong with supporting the bnp,i am more concerned about the left wing traitors

Posted by jim | 24.11.08, 10:29 GMT

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David, does being Rightwing mean that you have no idea how to punctuate or construct a sentence? Or spell for that matter?

Posted by terry | 24.11.08, 10:19 GMT

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24 Comments

 

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