Pudsey man with Adolf Hitler poster on his wall sought to incite hatred by sending out stickers, court hears

Sam Melia is standing trial at Leeds Crown Court this week where he denies stirring up racial hatred between 2019 and 2021. He is also accused of intentionally encouraging or assisting racially-aggravated criminal damage by distributing material for the Hundred Handers, an anti-immigration white nationalist group, during the same period.

The jury was sworn in on Monday afternoon and the Crown opened its case this morning. Prosecutor Tom Storey said when police raided Melia’s home on Town Street in April 2021, they found the downloadable messages associated with Nazism and white supremacy in his car boot and his study.

They included messages that read “It’s okay to be white” and “Diversity did not build Britain”, “Nationalism is nature” and “Labour love Muslim rape gangs”. Another referred to the social distance during lockdown, suggesting people should keep a two-metre distance between themselves and immigrants.

He said there were also signs of 34-year-old Melia’s “ideology”, including a book on his table and a poster on his wall about the infamous British fascist, Oswald Mosley, and also a poster of Adolf Hitler on his garage wall.

Mr Storey said: “We are fortunate that we live in a democracy that brings with it freedoms. We pride ourselves on being tolerant and multi cultural. However, there are people who do not share such views. The prosecution says Samuel Melia is one such person.

“He makes no bones that he is involved with Patriotic Alternative. It’s an extreme right-wing group advocating the removal of all immigrants from this country.”

He said that while Melia’s views were not illegal, the fact he was sending out the downloadable messages to be print showed “common sense that the their only purpose was to stir up racial hatred”.

He said that Melia set up the social media Hundred Handers channel on the app Telegram, which Mr Storey said referred to a mythological Greek creature with 100 hands, with Melia being the head of the creature and his followers being the anonymous hands. He had more than 3,500 subscribers, and the stickers later found on road signs, public toilets, lampposts and bike racks across Britain.

The trial continues.