UK neo-Nazi jailed for owning white supremacist murder handbook

A neo-Nazi ex-prison guard from Yorkshire in the United Kingdom was sentenced to over eight years in prison due to possessing a dangerous white supremacist "murder manual."

The guard in question is 42-year-old Ashley Podsiad Sharp from Barnsley, a neo-Nazi who used to work as a guard at HMP Armley in the city of Leeds. 

During this time, Podsiad Sharp was found to hold "racist and other abhorrent views."

According to the sentencing document written by Judge Jeremy Richardson, these views included:

• Extreme homophobia
• Holocaust denial
• Idolizing Adolf Hitler and other Nazis
• Outright calls himself a neo-Nazi and appeared to be very proud of this fact

Possession of a white supremacist "murder manual" and founding nascent terror cell

The judge further called out that Podsiad Sharp lied to the jury during the trial, but noted that the main issue is the possession of The White Resistance Manual. 

This book, which is illegal to possess in the UK, is a handbook of sorts that instructs readers on how to make weapons, conduct terrorism, and found white supremacist cells. 

Further, the judge noted that Podsiad Sharp, under the nickname of "Sarge," went on to found the White Stag Athletics Club. Ostensibly, it was a fitness club, but the judge alleged it held a far darker purpose, complete with a vetting process to ensure all members were white, heterosexual, and racist.

"This was not some form of ludicrous sports club," the judge wrote. "You were recruiting men with equally malevolent views to your own for a malign purpose. That is very clear from the evidence in the trial about the speeches you made to them. You appeared to be encouraging them to some form of combat."

Richardson summarized it as follows: "In short and simple terms you are a self-professed neo-Nazi who possessed an extremely dangerous publication. You recruited white men with identical views to be sycophantic supplicants to an extremely dangerous and perverted cause. These young men were nascent neo-Nazis and you were encouraging them in their unbridled racism, homophobia, and ludicrous, but dangerous, white supremacy theories... I have little doubt that sooner or later one or more of these individuals would have indulged in violence directed towards a minority group whom you - and they - hated."

Podsiad Sharp worked as a prison guard until his arrest in 2022 after his possession of a copy of The White Resistance Manual was discovered. After his eight years in prison, he will have a further five years on license after his release, breaching the terms of which will see him sent back behind bars.