Britain First deputy leader in court over anti-terror rally comments

The prosecution of the deputy leader of far-right group Britain First over remarks made at an anti-terrorism rally last summer will be reviewed again next month, a judge said.

Jayda Fransen, 31, made a brief appearance in the dock at Belfast Magistrates Court on Friday on two hate charges. Her leader Paul Golding, 36, who faces charges related to the same event, was excused.

The case was adjourned as legal preparations continue for Fransen and Golding's trial on April 6.

A lawyer for the Public Prosecution Service (PPS) said there were no issues with case progression from the Service's point of view.

The two hate charges related to a speech Fransen made at a Northern Ireland Against Terrorism rally in Belfast on August 6.

She faces four unrelated charges after alleged threatening behaviour concerning remarks made on December 13 beside a peace wall dividing Catholics from Protestants in Belfast.

The comments, about Islam, were posted on social media. A message said the video was shot in the staunchly unionist Shankill area of west Belfast.

Fransen is from Anerley in south-east London.

Golding is accused of using threatening, abusive or insulting words at the same Northern Ireland Against Terrorism rally outside Belfast City Hall.

He is from Beeches Close in Anerley.

Britain First has enjoyed added prominence after US president Donald Trump retweeted three unrelated anti-Muslim videos posted by Fransen.

The group has since boasted that it received hundreds of new membership applications and its Facebook posts were reaching hundreds of thousands more users.

Fransen and Golding's Twitter accounts have been suspended.

(function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){i['GoogleAnalyticsObject']=r;i[r]=i[r]function(){(i[r].q=i[r].q[]).push(arguments)},i[r].l=1*new Date();a=s.createElement(o),m=s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];a.async=1;a.src=g;m.parentNode.insertBefore(a,m)})(window,document,'script','//www.google-analytics.com/analytics.js','ga');ga('create', 'UA-72310761-1', 'auto', {'name': 'pacontentapi'});ga('pacontentapi.set', 'referrer', location.origin);ga('pacontentapi.set', 'dimension1', 'By Michael McHugh, Press Association');ga('pacontentapi.set', 'dimension2', 'c0c8a702-b4c1-4c64-9ff1-bf5bffef3b54');ga('pacontentapi.set', 'dimension3', 'paservice:news,paservice:news:uk');ga('pacontentapi.set', 'dimension6', 'story');ga('pacontentapi.set', 'dimension7', 'composite');ga('pacontentapi.set', 'dimension8', null);ga('pacontentapi.set', 'dimension9', null);ga('pacontentapi.send', 'pageview', { 'location': location.href, 'page': (location.pathname + location.search + location.hash), 'title': 'Britain First deputy leader in court over anti-terror rally comments'});