Far-right extremist jailed after calling for people to 'destroy Jewish and black people' on website
A white supremacist leader who called on people to "destroy Jewish and black people" has been jailed for five years.
James Costello, from Kirkby, placed stickers across Merseyside to advertise his far-right website, which contained racist material.
Merseyside Police said the 38-year-old hoped he would recruit and radicalise people to the Creativity Movement.
Costello who called himself the “Reverend” was sentenced at Liverpool Crown Court after being convicted of 19 offences of stirring up racial hatred.
A Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) spokesman said Costello carried out a campaign across the city in 2021 posting the stickers which directed people to a white supremacist website.
He was also found to possess other racist material and recordings on his own website.
The spokesman said: “They were racially offensive and aimed to recruit people to join the violent destruction and subjugation of people of colour, black people and Jewish people.”
He added: “As part of the case the CPS used evidence to show his connection with other convicted terrorists, including National Action member Jack Renshaw, who was jailed for life in 2019 for planning to murder Labour MP Rosie Cooper and who he had exchanged letters and postcards with.”
Nick Price, head of the CPS Special Crime and Counter Terrorism Division, said: “James Costello styled himself as a 'Reverend’ as part of his ambition to try and stir up racial hatred wherever possible.
“The messages he posted were intended to sow disharmony and be a violent call to arms against black and Jewish people.”
In July 2021 Merseyside Police launched a criminal investigation after several members of the public reported stickers found on a lampposts across Merseyside advertising a website called Creativitymovement.net. The website was full of racist material.
Detective chief inspector Andy Milligan, of Merseyside Police, said that Costello was a leading figure in the Creativity Movement – a white supremacist racist movement which “pays homage to the Nazi Third Reich”.
He said: “Costello placed stickers across public sites in Merseyside with the intention of advertising this racist abhorrent website in the hope that he would recruit and radicalise people who lived in the area to the Creativity Movement.
“Our detectives worked hard to identify and seize the material whilst also identifying Costello as the main contributor to the site.
“The racist and offensive material uncovered by our officers was deplorable and could have caused serious tensions, anguish and violence in our community.
“I hope this result show that online hate will not be tolerated and online offenders are not anonymous.”
David Lawrence, senior researcher of campaign group Hope not Hate, said that Costello was a key activist in the fascist group Patriotic Alternative and was also linked to the now-banned Nazi sympathisers National Action.
He said: “Costello has spent years trying to spread a militant white supremacist cult in the UK, and is a former associate of the now-banned Nazi terror group National Action.
“Three members of Patriotic Alternative have been imprisoned for race hate or terror-related offences this year alone. This says everything you need to know about Patriotic Alternative.”
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