A former member of Britain First leader Paul Golding’s security team has been jailed for 24 years after being convicted of rape and a sustained campaign of violent domestic abuse.

James White, of Warwickshire, was recently sentenced at Warwick Crown Court after being found guilty of 14 offences, including two counts of rape, assault by penetration, five assaults occasioning actual bodily harm, controlling or coercive behaviour, threats to kill, intentional strangulation and offences involving a knife.

Horrific abuse

Warwickshire Police described his behaviour as a “campaign of horrific abuse, violence and sexual assaults”.

White has a well-documented history of involvement with Britain First, including participation in a series of confrontational incursions into hotels being used to accommodate asylum seekers during the Covid pandemic.

On 29 August 2020, Britain First activists descended on Coventry Hill Hotel, where asylum seekers were being housed.

Footage subsequently posted on the Britain First website organisation showed leader Paul Golding and other activists – including White – entering the hotel and confronting residents, asking them whether they were asylum seekers and where they came from.

During the confrontation White was accused of forcing open a set of doors while a security guard attempted to prevent the group entering an area reserved for residents.

The guard suffered an injury to his wrist.

Protecting Golding

White was initially convicted of common assault in his absence in November 2021. T

That conviction was subsequently set aside after the court heard that White had been isolating because a relative had contracted Covid, and a retrial was ordered.

Following his arrest, Golding, who decribed white as a “great and dedicated activist” published a video defending him and said White had been acting “in your capacity as a member of BFD, our security department”, claiming that his role had been to protect Golding.

That video has since been removed from the Britain First website.

Condemnation

White later attracted widespread condemnation after wearing a Manchester United shirt emblazoned with “97 Not Enough” at the 2023 FA Cup final, a reference to the 97 people who died at Hillsborough.

He received a four-year football banning order.