‘Longshanks’ gets a long stretch

For years he was one of the most vile and disgusting characters on the far right, running radio shows and podcasts, firstly ‘Radio Aryan’ and later ‘Radio Albion’. These acted as a dissemination for the musings and warblings of Nazi terror supporters and fanatics.

But James Barnaby Allchurch, who hid behind the name ‘Sven Longshanks’, was also a secretive and delicate soul, using his sickening Nazism and racism to obfuscate his own sad life of unemployment and loneliness.

After being assaulted in 2009, Allchurch suffered damage to his brain and spine. Confined by extreme pain to his home, he became a loner. Hiding himself away as much as possible in his mother’s house in Pembrokeshire, Allchurch became obsessed with both his debilitating health issues and communicating online with far-right extremists in the United States.

The 51 year old bachelor later started a podcast with all the gimmicks of a proper radio show – one that would’ve made his hero, the wartime Nazi collaborator William Joyce, proud.

Last month, Allchurch was convicted of 10 out of 15 counts of inciting racial hatred. The judge described his broadcasts as a “stain on humanity.”

A close ally and confidant of National Action’s founders Ben Raymond and Alex Davies, like those two, Allchurch portrayed a self-confidence that was wholly unwarranted and would be, finally, his downfall. He never quite knew when to stop himself. In mitigation, it is claimed his extreme use of racist language was because of an ‘echo chamber’ he fell into with extremists based in the United States. The judge was unimpressed, as was the judge in the case of Allchurch’s friend Alex Davies, by the persistent defence of the indefensible.

Nazi Terrorists

After the sentencing of the Nazi terrorist and paedophile Jack Renshaw, Allchurch was one of the first to try defend Renshaw and spread conspiracy theories about his conviction.  

At the time of Renshaw’s conviction we were able to unmask Allchurch, but only as “Steve Stone”, a name he had adopted for meeting others in public. Allchurch was furious that his alias had been leaked to us. He was even more disturbed when we printed his photograph, though as one of his Nazi chums consoled him, it wasn’t as if he had “a job to lose.”

During March and February of this year, the jury in his trial listened to broadcasts totalling around nine hours. In the broadcasts, Allchurch was repeatedly heard using racial slurs and propagating Nazi ideology. Allchurch was joined in some of the episodes by both members of National Action as well as overseas Nazis. The prosecution alleges there were up to 4,000 listeners on some of his broadcasts.

In one broadcast with National Action founder and (later) convicted terrorist Alex Davies, Allchurch and Davies spoke of spreading hardline material to a younger audience.

He used the popular (among neo-Nazis) alias Sven Longshanks, a reference to King Edward I, who was responsible for expelling Jewish people from England in 1290.

HOPE not hate were a particular target for Allchurch, who often used childish, racist and homophobic language to describe senior members of the organisation.

The court heard that when police arrested Allchurch in December 2019, he told them he lived at home because of his disabilities and that he survived on benefits because he was unable to work.  Some close to him claim he was often “ashamed” of himself – but not for his racism or Nazism.

Allchurch survived financially on BitCoin donations, monies he made from begging other Nazis to keep him safe and ensconced in his bedroom. The obtaining of the funds from his account became some issue during sentencing when it was suggested Allchurch would have to forfeit his laptop and therefore lose access to his BitCoin.

Jailing him today, the judge at Swansea Crown Court said Allchurch had a “concerning ideology” and referred to his ongoing racism and antisemitism, with “no remorse of misgivings.” He had not even the benefit of a not guilty plea.

The judge mentioned previous convictions for drug possession and assault as well as the defendant’s poor health when jailing him for two and half years.