POLICE bodycam footage of a converted warehouse in Howley which was allegedly used as a training camp for an ‘imminent race war’, has been shown to a jury.

The video, which was captured inside the makeshift gym on Wellington Street, has been used as part of evidence during a trial into six men accused of being members of a banned neo-Nazi group.

Warrington Guardian:

PICTURED: Suspects on trial on the Old Bailey

CCTV capturing four of the suspects at the Friar Penketh pub in Warrington town centre has also been released.

The footage from the surveillance camera show Christopher Lythgoe, of Greymist Avenue, Woolston, Andrew Clarke, of Marsh House Lane, Padgate, Michal Trubini, of Dutton Court, Howley, and Matthew Hankinson, from Newton-le-Willows, gathering for a meeting as part of a banned 'neo-Nazi' group, the prosecution has alleged.

At the public house, Jack Renshaw, 23, had pledged to kill Ms Cooper - MP for West Lancashire - and the officer whom he had a grudge against before committing 'suicide by cop'.

Their alleged leader Christopher Lythgoe, 32, of Greymist Avenue, Woolston, allegedly gave his blessing, telling him not to 'f*** it up', jurors have heard.

Later, Renshaw, who was worried about going to prison for hate speeches, allegedly posted on Facebook, saying: "I'll laugh last but it may not be for the longest."

Renshaw has admitted preparing acts of terrorism but denies membership of National Action after it was banned in December 2016 for supporting the murder of MP Jo Cox in a series of tweets.

He is on trial with Lythgoe and four other alleged members of the group, which would don skeleton masks and wave banners at demonstrations across the country.

During the trial a member of an anti-fascist organisation monitoring far-right group National Action initially thought Yvette Cooper and her husband Ed Balls were the focus of a plot to murder an MP, a court has heard.

Matthew Collins, from Hope Not Hate, had been working with informant Robbie Mullen to try to neutralise the banned organisation from the inside, the Old Bailey heard.

CCTV capturing four of the suspects at the Friar Penketh pub 

Mr Mullen blew the whistle on a fellow National Action member's plan to carry out the double murder of Labour MP Rosie Cooper and a police officer with a large Gladius knife in July last year.

Mr Collins said he had been working with Mr Mullen for several months but was on holiday in Portugal in July last year when he received a panicked message from his contact asking him to call him urgently.

He told the court: "There was some confusion because I didn't know who Rosie Cooper was - I had never heard of Rosie Cooper.

"I thought he meant Yvette Cooper because previously National Action had made threats to Yvette Cooper.

"[Mr Mullen] was saying 'No, not her, the other one - I thought he meant her husband Ed Balls but we soon established that it was Rosie Cooper.

"He said [Renshaw] was going to carry it out as soon as possible."

Warrington Guardian:

PICTURED: The Friar Penketh pub

Mr Collins continued: "He passed on what had been said and there was a suggestion that they themselves [the defendants] didn't really know who Rosie Cooper was and that former home secretary Amber Rudd would have been a better target because she initially banned the organisation.

"The others suggested a synagogue but Mr Mullen objected because there might be children at a synagogue."

Mr Collins said: "Christopher Lythgoe said 'It doesn't matter because they are still vermin, it doesn't make a difference if it's adult vermin or baby vermin. Vermin is vermin'.

"I just asked Mr Mullen to repeat it a few times just to be sure - it was the end of my holiday, I remember that much."

Hope Not Hate passed on the information to police, who arrested the six defendants.

Mr Collins said Mr Mullen had been passing on information since April because he was unable to leave the group, and their plan had been to try to expose it.

"We were going to write some cheeky blogs about National Action humiliating them and report them saying they were still active," he said.

"The initial plan was that Mr Mullen would stay in his house and no-one would know he's done anything but we would disrupt the group so that it couldn't continue - never in a million years did I think it would end up at the Old Bailey.

"[Mr Mullen] was in the group because he couldn't leave the group. It was like a cult and he wanted out and that was our initial aim."

The court has heard Mr Mullen first started giving Hope Not Hate information in April last year and has since been given a job and granted immunity from prosecution.

Mr Mullen later got a job as a researcher with Hope Not Hate.

Both Mr Collins and Mr Mullen deny that he was paid for his information.

Mr Collins said: "He never asked for anything so he never got it."

He said that around Christmas last year Mr Mullen was moved into a flat and had his accommodation and expenses paid for by Hope Not Hate after receiving an Osman Warning from police that his life was in danger.

They also helped provide him with a lawyer because of the risk of prosecution he faced for being part of National Action.

"He was never given money - he never asked for money. If we had a meal or got a train or a taxi then we would pay for it but he made no financial gain from us [Hope Not Hate] at all."

Renshaw, from Skelmersdale, and Lythgoe deny membership along with the other suspects.

Lythgoe also denies giving his permission for Renshaw to kill Ms Cooper on behalf of National Action.