An ‘unashamed’ neo-Nazi prison officer who founded a fitness club for fellow fascists has been jailed for 13 years for possessing a ‘white supremacist murder manual’.
Ashley Podsiad-Sharp, 42, from Barnsley, kept the handbook – titled White Resistance Manual – on his computer securely stored in an encrypted ‘virtual safe’.
Sheffield Crown Court heard it contained information about how to kill people, use various weapons, build bombs and evade detection by police.
Podsiad-Sharp, who was found guilty of possessing terrorist material following a trial, worked at HMP Amley in Leeds until his arrest in May 2022.
The handbook opened with a white supremacist mantra, calling for armed resistance to the ‘threat to the white race’ from Jews and non-white people.
Jurors heard Podsiad-Sharp founded the White Stag Athletics Club and created a channel for the group on the messaging app Telegram, calling himself ‘Sarge’.
Judge Jeremy Richardson KC described it as ‘a cauldron of self-absorbed neo-Nazism masquerading as a low-grade, all-male sports club’.
He told Podsiad-Sharp the club ‘sought to camouflage your real purpose – to incite violence against those you hated’ and that the terrorist manual played an integral part.
Jurors heard potential members were vetted with a questionnaire which included inquiries like ‘what do you believe happened in the Holocaust’ and ‘what do you envisage victory to look like?’.
The court heard the 200-page document said ‘democracy will be cast aside and votes will now be cast with bullets and bombs’ before setting out ‘various mechanisms for armed struggle’.
Podsiad-Sharp, who lives in the Barnsley area of South Yorkshire and worked as an officer at Leeds Prison at the time of the offence, told the jury he was not aware the White Resistance Manual was on his computer, had not read it and had not understood what it was.
The judge told him: ‘I have no doubt whatsoever you harboured terrorist intentions and your motivation was terrorism.
‘I doubt you would have perpetrated this yourself, although I can’t be sure, you may have been so overwhelmed by hatred you would in time have committed a terrorist act.’
Judge Richardson said the defendant was ‘inciting hatred’ and ‘encouraging acts of violence’ among the ‘ignorant and disillusioned men’ he had recruited.
‘I have little to no doubt one or more of those individuals would have indulged in violence towards a minority group that you, and they, hated,’ he said.
Judge Richardson said he would send his sentencing remarks to the Secretary of State for Justice, telling the defendant: ‘I have absolutely no doubt that a man with the perverted and extremely dangerous views you hold should never be employed in the responsible position you held as a prison officer.’
He added: ‘I have no idea what, if any, vetting was undertaken by the prison service.
‘Although the crime was not committed in prison, I regard the fact you were a prison officer to be a very serious matter.
‘You had contact with young white men who were vulnerable and disadvantaged and may have been ripe for selection by you had the situation presented itself.’
In mitigation, Peter Eguae said there was no evidence the manual had been accessed by Podsiad-Sharp ‘for a significant period of time’.
Podsiad-Sharp was sentenced to 13 years in prison – a custodial term of eight years and an extension period of five years.
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