Police tracked Wolverhampton racist for seven months
Counter-terrorism police kept tabs on racist Christopher Philips' online postings for seven months before pouncing and bringing him to justice for his right-wing extremism, it emerged today.
Philips, of Wednesfield, had written a manifesto setting out that democracy had failed and that he should run the country as a dictatorship.
He had partied in a KKK outfit and posed with a golliwog doll. His views were so extreme he had been banned from a church and thrown out of the National Front, and this week he was jailed for one year after pleading guilty to posting three YouTube videos online intending to stir racial hatred.
The Express & Star first became aware of his posts on social media in September 2012 and asked West Midlands Police if any action would be taken in relation to some of the material.
Officers revealed a report had earlier been made about Philips, formerly known as Darren Clifft, but there was insufficient evidence to support a prosecution at the time.
The force however revealed today that they continued to track Philips' online posts for months, until he posted the videos that led to his jail term.
During Wednesday's court hearing, the defence said that Philips, who has Asperger's syndrome, had always found it difficult to make friends, and had been bullied at school.
Philips was jailed for 12 months. He was also made subject to an anti-social behaviour order.
