Three men have been charged with terrorism offences as part of an investigation into banned neo-Nazi group National Action.

Five men, including four serving soldiers, were held on suspicion of terror offences last week, West Midland Police said.

Alexander Deakin, 22, from Beacon Road in Birmingham, Mikko Vehvilainen, 32, with an address at Llwyncyntefin, Sennybridge Camp, Brecon, and Mark Barrett, 24, with an address at Gaza Crescent, Dhekelia Garrison, Cyprus, have been charged with membership of the group.

All three are due to appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court today.
They are thought to serve with the Royal Anglian Regiment and Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers.

A civilian was also arrested in an “intelligence-led” swoop.
Mr Deakin is also charged with possession of documents likely to be useful to a person preparing to commit an act of terrorism, and distribution of a terrorist publication.

He faces a separate charge of inciting racial hatred including concerning National Action stickers posted at Aston University campus in Birmingham in July last year.

Mr Vehvilainen is charged with possessing a document containing information likely to be useful for terrorism, publishing material which is threatening, abusive or insulting, posting comments on a website intending to stir up racial hatred, and possessing pepper spray.

Police said: “The arrests were pre-planned and intelligence-led and there was no risk to the public’s safety.”

A man from Northampton and another from Ipswich, both aged 24, were released without charge on Saturday following inquiries.

National Action, described by the Home Office as “virulently racist, anti-Semitic and homophobic”, became the first extreme right-wing group to be banned under terrorism laws in December 2016.

A Twitter acount purportedly run by the group posted messages online about the murder of Labour MP Jo Cox, who was stabbed and shot by Thomas Mair in June 2016. One such tweet said there were "only 649 MPs to go".

Others read: "Our thoughts go out to Thomas Mair" and "Don't let this man's sacrifice go in vain. #JoCox would have filled Yorkshire with more subhumans."

Scot Thomas Mair, who was born in Kilmarnock, was jailed for a whole life sentence for what Ms Cox's widower Brendan branded "a political act and an act of terrorism".

The phrase "Death to traitors, freedom for Britain", which was said by Mair in court, appears alongside the listing for National Action's website on Google.

In the wake of Mair's conviction, warnings emerged that the terror threat from the extreme Right could be growing.