Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
HITLER’S DISCIPLES
Neo-nazi mum and toyboy lover who named son after Adolf met after joining cell of vile hate group
A VILE mum who named her baby son after Adolf Hitler grew up as a Nazi-obsessed teen after being “born racist”, a former friend said.
Claudia Patatas and her toyboy lover Adam Thomas face lengthy jail terms after being convicted of far-right terrorism yesterday.
The neo-nazis held hands and sobbed in the dock at Birmingham crown court as they were found guilty.
The pair were members of the notorious underground National Action group – branded a terrorist organisation by the government in 2016.
The cell was smashed after member Alexander Deakin was arrested for plastering Aston University in the city with National Action stickers.
Detectives seized his phone and accessed a private chat group on the messenger app Telegram, used by NA members including Patatas, 38, and Thomas, 22. It sparked a major counterterror probe and a string of arrests. When police raided their home in Banbury, Oxon, they found pictures of them with their son, whose middle name is “Adolf ”, in front of Nazi regalia.
The images were no surprise to the Portuguese photographer’s pals in her home city of Lisbon. Even at school she spoke of her hatred for other races, they revealed. A former friend said: “When we were together Claudia said horrible things about other races. It was sad, she didn’t seem to know any different. She did not think there was anything wrong with using words like n ***** and c**n. I think she was born racist.
“In her late teens she started wearing strange, old-fashioned clothes. She said it was what Nazi women wore in the 30s.” In the Telegram messages, Patatas revealed she baked a cake for Hitler’s birthday. She wrote: “I did struggle to slice his face. Adolf is life.”
Patatas, who wore Naziinspired clothing to her trial, moved to the UK in 2010 after falling for a British “pagan”.
She found work as a wedding photographer in Oxfordshire but kept her vile beliefs hidden from customers, as well as the SS Black Sun emblem tattooed on her back in 2016. She was introduced to Ku Klux Klanobssessed Thomas on the Telegram group of NA’S Midlands chapter.
The group called for the death of Jews and blacks and members said the UK was on the brink of a “race war”.
Patatas and Thomas began private conversations and agreed to meet in a Derby Wetherspoons in late 2016.
Despite Patatas being in a relationship, within a fortnight they were sleeping together and she got pregnant.
She split from her partner and moved Thomas into her home in May 2017.
A source said: “It was like the coming together of evil. They shared the same disgusting views and fell for each other.”
Their home was filled with Nazi memorabilia including swastika cookiecutters, cushions and flags.
Their bedroom was strewn with machetes, crossbows, an axe and a Nazistyle dagger. Weeks before she gave birth last November, Patatas searched for “baby shops owned by white people”.
It also emerged Thomas moved to Israel as a teenager in a bizarre bid to become Jewish so that he could join the Israeli army.
But he was kicked out of a religious academy after a teacher became suspicious.
Former friends said he was “mentally ill” and lived on the streets in Jerusalem for a time. Roommate David Simpkins said: “He had mental issues. He never socialised and often got into arguments.”
Within months of returning to his family home in Birmingham in early 2016, he was attending his first National Action meeting after linking up online. The group hit the headlines in June that year when members voiced support for the murder of Labour MP Jo Cox.
When he was arrested, Thomas was working as a security guard for Amazon.
The pair and co-defendant Daniel Bogunovic, 27, from Leicester, were convicted of being members of a proscribed organisation. Thomas was also guilty of possession of a document containing terrorist information.
The trio will be sentenced next month with Darren Fletcher, 28, of Wednesfield, West Mids, Joel Wilmore, 24, of Stockport and Nathan Pryke, 26, of March, Cambs, who admit being members.
Deakin, 24, was previously sentenced to 12 months for inciting racial hatred.