Three convicted for membership in British neo-Nazi group

Nov. 12 (UPI) -- Three people in Britain, including two who named their child after Adolf Hitler, were convicted of being members of a banned neo-Nazi group, authorities said Monday.

West Midlands Police said a jury found Daniel Bogunovic, 27, Adam Thomas, 22, Claudia Patatas, 38, guilty of being members of the group known as National Action.

The group was outlawed in 2013 after it celebrated the murder of Labor Member of Parliament Jo Cox.

"These individuals were not simply racist fantasists; we now know they were a dangerous, well-structured organization," said West Midlands Detective Chief Superintendent Matt Ward. "Their aim was to spread neo-Nazi ideology by provoking a race war in the U.K. and they had spent years acquiring the skills to carry this out."

Ward said they also gathered weapons and researched how to make explosives.

Thomas was found guilty of possessing bomb making instructions, while Bogunvic was found guilty of inciting racial hatred and Fletcher pleaded guilty to five breaches of his criminal anti-social behavior order.

A police search found that Thomas and Patatas had two machetes and two crossbows in their home and some of the weapons were stored in their bedroom where their baby son slept and near his crib, the BBC reported.

Photos also showed Thomas wearing Klu Klux Klan robes while holding his son, whom they named "Adolf" out of admiration for Adolf Hitler.

Thomas said the robes were "just play," but said he was in fact a racist.

Patatas was given bail, while Thomas and Bogunovic remained in custody. The three will be sentenced in December.

Joel Wilmore, 24, Darren Fletcher, 28 and 27-year-old Nathan Pryke had previously admitted their membership and two other men, Mikko Vehvilainen and Alex Deakin, were convicted and sentenced earlier this year for being members of National Action.