National Action: 'Neo-Nazis' hold hands in court after being charged with membership of banned terror group

West Yorkshire pair among five arrested by counterterrorism police

A young couple appeared at Westminster Magistrates Court charged with being members of National Action (PA)

A young couple held hands in the dock as they appeared in court charged with being members of banned neo-Nazi terror group National Action.

Mark Jones and his fiancee Alice Cutter, from Sowerby Bridge, West Yorkshire, were arrested by counterterrorism police this week.

Mr Cutter, 22, and Ms Jones, 23, each wore grey prison tracksuits as they appeared at Westminster Magistrates' Court on Friday.

Mr Jones denied a single charge of belonging to a proscribed organisation contrary to Section 11 of the Terrorism Act 2000, while Ms Cutter chose not to enter a plea to the same offence.

They are accused of remaining part of the extremist group after it was banned in December 2016 until September 2017.

The court heard that Mr Jones works as a joiner while Ms Cutter is a waitress in a theatre in her home town, where the couple share a flat on Wharf Street.

District judge Margot Coleman remanded the couple in custody ahead of a plea and trial preparation hearing at the Old Bailey on 12 October.

Prosecutor Jessica Hart said any future trial was likely to be heard at Birmingham Crown Court.

The pair were arrested along with three other people on Wednesday as part of an investigation by the West Midlands Counter Terrorism Unit.

Two men, aged 22 and 28, both from Birmingham, remain in custody after detectives were granted a warrant of further detention, while a 17-year-old from Nottingham has been bailed under investigation.

Additional reporting by Press Association