A few months before Anders Behring Breivik embarked on his massacre, he was chatting away online to far-right sympathisers in Britain.
“To all you good English men and women, just wanted to say that you’re a blessing to all in Europe,” he wrote. “In these dark times all of Europe are looking to you in surch [sic] of inspiration, courage and even hope that we might turn this evil trend with Islamisation all across our continent.”
Posting under the alias “Sigurd” on a forum run by the English Defence League (EDL), Breivik added: “Just wanted to say keep up the good work.”
Although the Norwegian authorities believe Breivik acted alone, his links to the far right are manifold and Britain appears to be a crucial hub.
The Sunday Times has established that until a few weeks ago, he was a member of the Norwegian Defence League (NDL), an EDL offshoot that rails against the encroachment of Islam and has had neo-Nazi criminals among its followers.
“He was a member for a while, but I kicked him out because he had extremist views,” said Lena Andreassen, the former head of the NDL.
Andreassen revealed that the NDL was set up after an anti-Muslim protest by the EDL in Newcastle upon Tyne last year and is in effect controlled from these shores. One key EDL figure who has helped to run the NDL’s Facebook page, according to Searchlight, the anti-fascist magazine, is Jeff Marsh, a football hooligan who was jailed for two years for stabbing rival fans.
Despite the EDL leadership claiming it has had no “official” contact with Breivik, Chris Redmond, the group’s European co-ordinator, admitted the mass murderer had been an NDL member.
Breivik claims in the manifesto he posted online that he had more than 600 EDL “friends” on Facebook and had spoken to “tens” of EDL members and leaders.
Scotland Yard is checking whether he came to Britain to take part in EDL protests — most of which have degenerated into violent clashes with Muslims and anti-fascists.
In his manifesto, Breivik also says he was inducted into a new order of Knights Templar in London in 2002 and was mentored by an Englishman called “Richard (the Lionhearted)”.
Last week Paul Ray, a former EDL activist, admitted he might have inspired Breivik. Ray, who runs a blog called Lionheart, is a Christian fundamentalist who claims to belong to a group called the Ancient Order of Knights Templar.
His friends include a former neo-Nazi convict called “Mad” Nick Greger and Johnny “Mad Dog” Adair, the former loyalist paramilitary leader in Northern Ireland.
Ray last week condemned Breivik’s actions as “pure evil” and said: “I’m not sure if he ever contacted me.”
Ray believes Breivik could have drawn inspiration from his postings and use of crusader iconography, and knowingly “stitched me up”.
Meanwhile, Stephen Lennon, the EDL chief who last week was convicted of leading a football brawl a year ago, said his organisation was against “all violence and extremism”. But in a BBC Newsnight interview last Monday, he also warned that suppressing his members’ views could lead to a similar atrocity in Britain in “five to 10 years”.
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