National Action co-founder wanted white Britain, jury hears

The co-founder of a neo-Nazi terror group was "ashamed" of himself for giving a Nazi salute at a concentration camp, a court has heard.

Alex Davies, 27, denies being a member of National Action after it was banned as a terrorist organisation in 2016.

The UK government banned it after it had "terrorised" towns across the country with its call for an "all-out race war".

The group also "celebrated" the murder of MP Jo Cox in June 2016.

Mr Davies, from Swansea, is also accused of being a recruiter for the organisation.

Winchester Crown Court previously heard that National Action aimed to complete the work of Adolf Hitler and Mr Davies' Nazi idolisation led him to carry out a Nazi salute in the execution chamber at Buchenwald concentration camp in May 2016, causing a "massive storm in Germany and internationally".

Mr Davies admitted posing for the photo, alongside Mark Jones, a convicted member of National Action, but said that he was "not proud" of it.

He described the gesture as a "completely spontaneous action" which he later felt "ashamed of."

The jury previously heard that members of National Action "celebrated" the murder of Jo Cox MP when she was killed in her constituency in June 2016.

Mr Davies told the court that he had not agreed or been involved with Twitter posts put out by National Action accounts that "celebrated" her murder.

The defendant added: "I felt bad that she died, I feel sorry for her kids, I feel sorry for her husband."

When asked whether he shared the views of Jo Cox's killer, Thomas Mair, Mr Davies described him as "a crazy man" who committed "a nonsensical act."

The court heard about the formation of National Action, which Mr Davies set up in the summer of 2013 before he went to Warwick University to study philosophy.

As a teenager, Mr Davies told the court he had been involved with organisations such as UKIP, the BNP and Western Spring.

Davies said that he set up National Action because as a "nationalist socialist" he was "politically homeless after the BNP "imploded".

He said the goal of the organisation was to create a "nationalist Britain, which would be a white Britain."

Asked whether he believed in fomenting a "race war", Mr Davies said it would be "against the interests of a lot of white people" because "I don't think we'd fare very well in a race war."

Mr Davies described a National Action training camp in December 2016 as a social event, arguing that it was inaccurate to say that its aim was to prepare attendants for a race war.

He told jurors that it was a chance to "get out into the countryside" to "build bonds" between members, who engaged in "a bit of sparring" and shot a tree with a crossbow.

Mr Davies said he had not attended a Lake District "hate camp", describing a previous camping trip as a "miserable time" because it was cold and wet.

The court heard that Chris Lythgoe, the leader of National Action at the time of its proscription, told members that the group was "just shedding one skin for another".

Mr Davies told the court that he denied continuing to be a member of National Action after it was banned, and said he had not attempted to defy it.

He said of the ban: "I felt it was an unprovoked move, but in some respects, given the provocative nature of the organisation, I understood the thinking behind the proscription.

"I understood why people in the Home Office would be concerned about what National Action was involved in, not so much what it was doing at the time but the trajectory it was on."

Davies said he had not attempted to challenge the proscription, although others had.

He said: "I felt it was an opportunity to reassess what we had been doing and to start with a blank slate and come up with ways of doing things that would be more productive."

Mr Davies said he advised the members of his region of National Action not to break the law, and his understanding was the organisation would be "disbanded" following the ban.

Mr Davies denies membership of a proscribed organisation between December 17, 2016, and September 27 2017, and the trial continues.