BNP leader Griffin arrested
BNP leader Nick Griffin has been released on bail following his arrest earlier today on suspicion of incitement to commit racial hatred.
The arrest was in connection with a BBC documentary, which featured covertly-filmed footage of BNP activists.
The party leader was the twelfth man to be arrested in connection with the documentary.
In a statement, the BNP said Mr Griffin was awoken at 0700 by four non-uniformed officers at his house in mid-Wales and taken to a police station in West Yorkshire.
The West Yorkshire Police confirmed that a 45 year-old man was arrested from outside of the force’s area.
BNP founding chairman, John Tyndall, 70, of Brighton, was arrested on the same charge on Sunday but has since been released on police bail.
He is alleged to have breached the Race Relations Act when making a speech in Burnley in March 2004, which was captured on camera by undercover journalist Jason Gwynne.
The BBC “Secret Agent” programme was broadcast in July of this year, and following the subsequent police investigation into the events screened in the documentary, and other unseen footage handed over by the BBC, three of the nine men originally arrested are to face court proceedings.
The three Bradford men, aged 29, 33 and 23, have been charged with racially aggravated intentional harassment and are due to appear before Leeds Magistrates’ Court on Thursday, December 16th.
In a joint statement this afternoon, the Crown Prosecution Service and West Yorkshire Police said that after the evidence provided by the BBC had been “painstakingly reviewed” it was concluded that there was “insufficient evidence to prosecute six of the nine individuals who were initially arrested” .
It continued: “West Yorkshire Police is conducting a thorough investigation into all the issues raised in the programme. An incident room is running staffed by a number of experienced detectives, whose enquiries have included trawling through hours of video footage.
“The BBC has supplied the police with over 300 hours of film footage recorded during their time undercover. Since the broadcast a team of officers has been working 10 hours a day, five days a week viewing these videos in an attempt to establish if any criminal offences have been committed and recorded. In addition, officers have also been making numerous enquiries, including tracing witnesses and potential witnesses to incidents captured on the BBC footage.”
The police stress that enquiries though are ongoing, with two men, aged 70 and 24, currently on police bail pending further enquiries.
