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Britain First leader charged with terror offence

Paul Golding, the leader of far-right group Britain First, has been charged with an offence under the Terrorism Act after refusing to give police access to his phone.

Golding was stopped by officers from the Metropolitan Police’s Counter Terrorism Command at Heathrow Airport in October on his return from a trip to the Russian Parliament in Moscow. Upon being stopped, he refused to give the pin codes for a number of his electronic devices.

Golding, 38, is due to appear at Westminster Magistrates' Court on 27 February, charged with refusing to comply with a duty under Schedule 7 of the Terrorism Act. Schedule 7 allows police to interrogate, search and detain anyone for up to six hours at UK ports. It is designed to determine whether an individual is involved in the ‘commission, preparation or instigation’ of acts of terrorism.

In a statement he said he was not a terrorist and described the charges as ‘an abuse of legislation’.

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