A neo-Nazi Holocaust denier who said he would ‘kill a mixed-race’ child and gave his son the middle name ‘Adolf’ will be freed after Parole Board granted his release – despite them admitting they ‘could not be satisfied’ their work had been effective.
Adam Thomas, 27, and partner Claudia Patatas, then 38 – who posed in Ku Klux Klan robes with their tiny child – were found guilty of being members of the extreme right-wing organisation National Action, which was banned in 2016.
Thomas, then 22, was handed a six-and-a-half-year sentence at Birmingham Crown Court in 2018, while ‘remorseless’ Patatas, then 38, got a five-year jail term.
But self-confessed Holocaust denier Thomas, from Banbury, Oxfordshire, is set to be released in a move that has left Jewish charities horrified.
The Parole Board directed his release following a hearing on March 27, in the second review – despite saying that witnesses ‘could not be satisfied that the work had been effective’.
The summary revealed: ‘Having considered the index offence, relevant patterns of previous behaviour and the other evidence before it, the panel listed as risk factors those influences which made it more likely that Mr Thomas would reoffend.
Adam Thomas (right) and Claudia Patatas (left) are pictured holding a Swastika flag while holding their baby. Thomas, then 22, was handed a six-and-a-half-year sentence at Birmingham Crown Court in 2018, while ‘remorseless’ Patatas, then 38, got a five-year jail term
But the self-confessed Holocaust denier, from Banbury, Oxfordshire, is set to be released in a move that has left Jewish charities horrified. Pictured: Thomas, left, and Patatas, right
A white Ku Klux Klan hood was found during a search of the couple’s home in Banbury, Oxfordshire (left). Photos then emerged of Thomas wearing the outfit while holding his baby in his arms
Adam Thomas and Claudia Patatas’s house in Oxfordshire where memorabilia which had the swastika emblazoned on it was found
‘Evidence was presented at the hearing regarding Mr Thomas’ progress and custodial conduct during this sentence. He had engaged with some work to explore his political and religious views. Mr Thomas then completed work on his offending behaviour, including an accredited programme to address extremist offending and ways of disengaging.
‘Witnesses could not be satisfied that the work had been effective, however, it was noted that Mr Thomas was now very aware of the legal implications of his past behaviour. He had since engaged with further sessions to explore right wing ideology.
‘No further work was identified for Mr Thomas to complete in custody. There was some support for release at the oral hearing, which would allow for some monitoring of Mr Thomas prior to the end of his sentence.’
One out of prison – just months ahead of his planned release in July – they decided that he will still need to be monitored.
He will live in designated accommodation and there will be strict limits on his contacts, movements, and activities.
This will also include GPS tracking, signing-in times, polygraph testing and a specified curfew.
He will be released more than two years after Patatas was released – long before her sentence was up.
Adam Thomas is pictured with his face covered and posing with a long-bladed knife
Thomas brandishes his crossbow as he stands in front of a Confederacy flag
A swastika pastry cutter (pictured) was found at the couple’s home in Banbury, Oxfordshire
Adam Thomas (middle) and his partner Claudia Patatas (right), at their home in Waltham Gardens, Banbury, Oxfordshire, with friend Darren Fletcher (left)
A search of the couple’s Banbury home in 2018 uncovered Nazi memorabilia, a Ku Klux Klan outfit and an arsenal of deadly weapons including crossbows, machetes and axes.
The unsuspecting market town sits in the Cotswolds – just miles from areas beloved by celebrities including the Beckhams, Jeremy Clarkson, and former Prime Minister David Cameron.
Pictures later emerged of Thomas, originally from the West Midlands, wearing the white hooded mask synonymous with the white supremacist group as cradling his young child.
The news has stunned members of the Jewish community – who have dubbed the pair’s release ‘dumbfounding’.
A spokesperson for the Community Security Trust – a charity who protect British Jews from antisemitism and related threats – said: ‘This case highlights the serious challenge posed by the release of extremists from prison when there is no guarantee that they have shed their dangerous views.
‘It is vital that the relevant authorities keep a close eye on Thomas, and on any other similar extremists convicted of terrorism offences once they are released.’
A spokesperson for Campaign Against Antisemitism added: ‘This decision is dumbfounding.
‘If the Parole Board has determined that it cannot be ‘satisfied’ with the effectiveness of the work that Adam Thomas was required to do, why is he eligible for early release?
Patatas is pictured with Thomas’s close friend Darren Fletcher, who admitted being part of National Action at the beginning of court proceedings
Ku Klux Klan-styled Christmas card shown to jurors at Birmingham Crown Court, found on the side board during police searches of Adam Thomas and Claudia Patatas’ home in Oxfordshire
Jurors were also shown two scatter cushions with Swastikas that were found in the living room of the couple’s home during police searches
‘Furthermore, if Mr Thomas, even having served practically the entirety of his sentence, is still not considered fully rehabilitated, what does that say about the original sentence?
‘National Action is a terrorist organisation. Its members are criminals under terrorism legislation. These sentences matter, and need to be effective in protecting the public.’
Police previously said the couple’s baby son, looked after by his mother throughout the trial, will now be the subject of ‘normal safeguarding procedures’ but it was for social workers to decide on his future.
Oxfordshire County Council refused to say whether Thomas and Patatas could be reunited with their child or have contact with it ‘for reasons of confidentially and safeguarding’.
A jury at Birmingham Crown Court was told the couple had given their child the middle name ‘Adolf’, which self-confessed racist Thomas admitted was in ‘admiration’ of Hitler.
Thomas was described in court as a ‘vehement Nazi’ who worked as an Amazon security guard.
The KKK robes that Thomas wore in a series of photos shown to the jury – including one with his baby – were inherited from his great-grandfather, a supporter of Oswald Mosley’s British Union of Fascists in the 1930s.
The jury of six men and five women found Thomas guilty of an additional offence of having a terrorist manual called the Anarchist’s Cookbook.
A mug displaying the emblem of the Nazi-era SS organisation, found on the living room side board, during police searches of the couple’s home
A black jacket with a Swastika armband and an SS death skull badge was found in the house in Barnbury, Oxfordshire
They were told that the pair intended to wage a ‘holy war’ against black, Jewish, Asian and gay people.
Asked about his child’s middle name, Thomas said it did ‘reflect an interest’ and ‘admiration’ of the Nazi leader.
He told the court: ‘It definitely doubles up as the name of Adolf Hitler.
‘It’s undeniable and I don’t make a secret of it. It does reflect an interest in that topic and admiration for what it represents.’
He said the name Adolf was ‘not controversial’ in Portugal, where his partner Patatas is from, claiming the couple planned to move there.
Speaking about his crimes, the Parole Board detailed the reasons for Thomas’ radicalisation.
They said: ‘At the time of his offending, these risk factors had included his early life experiences, and his interest in extreme right wing political groups and white supremacy.
‘Mr Thomas evidenced racial and religious intolerance, an interest in violence and weapons, and associated with those who had views similar to his own. He demonstrated poor decision making.’
Weapons found in Adam Thomas and Claudia Patatas’ house included a dagger (left) and a hammer which had a blade attached to it (right)
A photograph shows Claudia Patatas’s tattoo, a ‘black sun’ used by the SS in Nazi Germany
A crossbow which seemed to be in camouflage print was also found at the couple’s home
Thomas appeared via video link at the hearing, with the Board also speakinbg to his probation officer, the official supervising his case and a psychologist employed by the prison service.
A spokesperson for the Parole Board said: ‘We can confirm that a panel of the Parole Board has directed the release of Adam Thomas following an oral hearing.
‘Parole Board decisions are solely focused on what risk a prisoner could represent to the public if released and whether that risk is manageable in the community.
‘A panel will carefully examine a huge range of evidence, including details of the original crime, and any evidence of behaviour change, as well as explore the harm done and impact the crime has had on the victims.
‘Members read and digest hundreds of pages of evidence and reports in the lead up to an oral hearing.
‘Evidence from witnesses such as probation officers, psychiatrists and psychologists, officials supervising the offender in prison as well as victim personal statements may be given at the hearing.
‘It is standard for the prisoner and witnesses to be questioned at length during the hearing which often lasts a full day or more. Parole reviews are undertaken thoroughly and with extreme care. Protecting the public is our number one priority.’
Asked by the prosecution if he was a racist while on trial in 2018, Thomas answered: ‘Yes.’
The US confederate Ku Klux Clan branded flag was founding hanging from the window of the couple’s home in Banbury, Oxfordshire
Both Thomas and Patatas had been involved in what the judge called the ‘desecration’ of civic memorials with National Action stickers, including one in Leamington Spa, Warwickshire.
The judge said: ‘You went there, defacing a memorial for those who died in the war protecting this country from the Nazis.’
He told Thomas: ‘Your home with Patatas was a veritable shrine to extreme racism.
‘You and she gave your child the middle name Adolf and you were photographed on a number of occasions with the child in KKK garb.’
He told Thomas, the only defendant to give evidence at trial, that his views had been ‘so extreme’ his only recourse had been to claim to jurors he had ‘deliberately exaggerated, to shock’.
‘That was rightly rejected by the jury,’ the judge said.
Turning to Patatas, Judge Inman QC, said: ‘I have seen no shred of remorse.’
He told her: ‘On one occasion, you and Thomas said, if required, you each would be willing to murder a mixed-race child.
A white Ku Klux Klan hood was found during a search of the couple’s home in Banbury, Oxfordshire (left). Photos then emerged of Thomas wearing the outfit while holding his baby in his arms
‘These are not idle words. The vile regime you and Thomas worship, and which you wish to impose on this country, did – and would do – exactly that.
Taking account of her one-year-old child, the judge said: ‘As an act of mercy, I reduce your sentence from six to five years.’
Photographs from their ‘family album’ showed Thomas cradling his newborn son dressed in hooded white KKK robes.
The fascist pair can also be seen smiling for another picture with the baby, who was born in late 2017, while proudly displaying a Swastika flag.
They joined National Action after being ‘fuelled by hatred and division’ and engaged in a ‘terror born out of a fanatical and tribal belief in white supremacy,’ the court heard.
Both defendants had attended meetings of the far-right group, formed in 2013, prior to its ban in December 2016.
The group was prohibited by the Government after members celebrated the murder of Labour MP Jo Cox by far-right terrorist Thomas Mair earlier that year.
Despite being outlawed, the group carried out ‘White Jihad’ – a white holy war – to uphold white supremacist values around the country.
Claudia Patatas is pictured leaving Warwick Crown Court in 2018, covering her face after she was bailed ahead of sentencing
The court heard transcripts of encrypted Telegram chat messages following the ban proving all three defendants were still members of the group post-proscription.
Patatas, a wedding photographer, used the chat platform to message another ‘vehement Nazi’ Darren Fletcher, 28, saying ‘all Jews must be put to death’.
The Portuguese-born mother, who has a black sun SS symbol tattooed on her back, also revealed she once celebrated Hitler’s birthday by eating a cake with a ‘Fuhrer face’ decorated on it.
She wrote: ‘I did struggle to slice his face. Adolf is life.’
Meanwhile Thomas called on refugees to be gassed, black people to be killed and the Chinese people to be turned into biofuel in a string of vile racist messages.
He also said homosexuals and mixed-race children should be killed by stoning, beheading and hanging and wanted to start a British chapter of the KKK.
Using the platform, Thomas put: ‘We could slaughter billions of non-whites no problem, we are superior….Personally all I want is a white homeland.
‘I don’t accept anyone who isn’t 100 per cent white.’
When counter terror police raided their home they found Nazi flags, Ku Klux Klan robes and a variety of fascist memorabilia – including Swastika cushions and pastry cutters.
The couple even had racist Christmas cards – including one bearing a picture of KKK members and the message ‘May All Your Christmasses Be White’.
Newspaper cuttings relating to the Norwegian far-Right mass murderer Anders Breivik, who killed 77 people in 2011, were also found in the couple’s living room.
Thomas also claimed his racist views came from when he was a small child – and were influenced by the notorious ‘white power’ skinhead band Skrewdriver.
He told jurors his stepfather had been in the band and had a tattoo of the group’s logo on his arm.
Born in Sutton Coldfield but raised in Birmingham, Thomas spent much of his childhood with his maternal grandparents, but he continued to see his parents.
The extremism that would lead him to National Action was already so ingrained in him that at school he was referred to the Government’s Prevent strategy after teachers overheard him racially abusing fellow pupils at the age of 13.
The only white child in his class, he was eventually expelled and went to a special school.
Thomas left without any GCSEs but in a bizarre turn of events two years later he moved to Israel, where he lived first in a kibbutz and then a college where he tried to convert to Judaism.
