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Race hate writer sent home
A racist writer who fled to the United States seeking asylum is to be deported.
Stephen Whittle, 42, of Avenham Lane, Preston, was convicted last year of publishing inflammatory anti-Jewish material on a website.
Whittle skipped bail and flew to Los Angeles with co-defendant Simon Sheppard, 51, who was found guilty of similar offences at Leeds Crown Court.
The two sought asylum under America's free speech protections, claiming they were being persecuted for their anti-Semitic views.
But an immigration judge has now ordered the pair, who have been in custody since their arrival in the US, be deported to the UK.
Unemployed Whittle wrote anti-Jewish literature on a website under the pen name of Luke O'Farrell between 2004 and 2006. He was convicted of five counts of publishing racially inflammatory written material following a seven-week trial last July.
Sheppard, of Brook Street, Selby, North Yorkshire, was found guilty of 11 counts of publishing racially inflammatory written material.
They were due to return to court after a jury continued deliberations, but they failed to appear. They were believed to have taken a ferry to Ireland before flying to Los Angeles.
US legal expert Alex Rojas told the Evening Post that it was very difficult for people from the UK to get political asylum in America.
He said: "You have to establish a well-founded fear of persecution based on race, religion, nationality or membership of a particular social group or political opinion."
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Saturday 04 February 2012
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