Contestant for "Miss Hitler" and her partner are jailed for belonging to a neo-Nazi group

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Alice Cutter and her partner Mark Jones were sentenced to years in prison for being members of the far-right neo-Nazi group National Action, which is banned.

(CNN) - A former "Miss Hitler" pageant contestant and her partner were sent to prison in Britain for belonging to the far-right neo-Nazi group National Action.

The sentencing on Tuesday came after Alice Cutter, 24, and her partner Mark Jones, 25, were found guilty of belonging to a terrorist group during a trial that took place in March, along with Garry Jack, 24, and Connor Scothern, 19, West Midlands Police said in a statement.

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National Action is the first far-right group that was banned by Britain's terror laws in December 2016. It is a crime in the country to be a member of that organization, which has been described by the Home Office as " virulently racist, anti-semitic and homophobic ”.

According to the Police, the four became members of the neo-Nazi group and met regularly to share their extreme ideology and attend demonstrations.

When the organization was banned, the police detected that the group held secret meetings to discuss their ambitions about a racial war, recruited youth and shared "intensely shocking" images mocking the Holocaust and glorifying Hitler.

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In the sentence on Tuesday, Cutter was sentenced to three years in prison, while Jones must serve a sentence of five and a half years, Jack one of four and a half years and Scothern one of 18 months, police said.

Another man, Daniel Ward, 29, pleaded guilty at a previous court hearing and was jailed for three years last July.

Garry Jack, Connor Scothern and Daniel Ward, members of the far-right neo-Nazi group National Action.

Cutter, who participated in the "Miss Hitler" beauty pageant as Miss Buchenwald - a reference to the Nazi death camp - denied being a member of the group despite attending rallies that held signs saying "Hitler was right," according to reported the PA news agency.

Judge Paul Farrer QC told Cutter that while she did not have an organizational or leadership role in the group, she was a "loyal confidant" to one of the leaders, in addition to being in a "committed relationship" with Jones, PA reported.

Farrer noted that Jones played "an important role in the continuation of the organization" after the ban.

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The court heard that the four denied membership in National Action, but attended a post-ban meeting of leaders and senior members in 2017, according to the AP.

In a statement, Chief Detective Superintendent Kenny Bell, head of the West Midlands Counter-Terrorism Unit, said authorities have seen a "significant increase" in right-wing references to the program to prevent terrorism.

"Terrorists and extremists use this type of ideology to create discord, mistrust and fear among our communities and we strive to counter this. I would encourage people to report hate crimes to us and they will be taken seriously, ”he said in a statement.

Before the sentencing, the director of public prosecutions, Max Hill QC, described National Action members as "retrograde" who "date back not only to anti-Semitism, but to the Holocaust, the Third Reich in Germany," he reported. PA.

DiscriminationHitlerneonaziHateRacism