The leaders of far-right extremist group Britain First have been found guilty of anti-Muslim hate crimes.
Paul Golding and Jayda Fransen were convicted on several counts of religiously-aggravated harassment at Folkestone Magistrates’ Court.
Judge Justin Barron described the defendants as a “controversial” pair, who “generate their own publicity”.
He said the court had received a number of emails both in their support and against them, but the verdict was based ”solely on admissible evidence heard in court''.
Golding, 36, was convicted of one count of religiously aggravated harassment and acquitted on two others.
His deputy, 31-year-old Fransen, was found guilty of three counts of the same offence and cleared of one.
They were arrested in May after distributing leaflets and posting of videos during a rape trial at Canterbury Crown Court, where three Muslim men and a teenager were later convicted and jailed.
Fransen went to the Kent home of one of the defendants, Tamin Rahmani, and shouted racist abuse through the front door.
His pregnant partner Kelli Best was alone with their two children, aged three years and 18 months, at the time of the incident on May 9 last year.
On a video played in court, Fransen could be seen banging on the door and shouting: “Come out and face me you disgusting rapist, come on.”
She denied all charges, as well as using the phrase “Muslim bastards”, or saying that all Muslims are rapists.
Golding also denied the charges and said he was only acting as Fransen's cameraman.
The defendants, both of Beeches close in Penge, will be sentenced later in the afternoon.
Their actions could have endangered the trial of three men and a 17-year-old boy who were jailed in September for raping a 16-year-old girl.
They took their victim, who was drunk at the time, to a flat above a kebab and pizza restaurant in Ramsgate after she asked for directions and subjected her to “a prolonged ordeal of degradation and humiliation”.
The “campaign” was one of a series of similar stunts by Britain First, which selectively highlights crimes it believes to be convicted by defendants from Muslim backgrounds.
The group gained international notoriety when Donald Trump shared several of Fransen’s Twitter posts last year, sparking a diplomatic row after Theresa May condemned the action.
Both Fransen and Golding have since been banned from Twitter in a crackdown on extremism and hate speech, but Britain First continues to have a large following on Facebook, were its official page is “liked” by more than 2 million people.
They are due to stand trial in Northern Ireland next month over separate allegations of inciting hatred at the “Northern Ireland Against Terrorism” rally in Belfast.
Additional reporting by PA
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