British soldiers among 3 men charged with terror offences and links with neo-Nazi group

Two British soldiers have been charged with terror offences and membership of a banned right-wing group. A third man also faces charges and the trio will appear in London's Westminster's Magistrates' Court on Tuesday (12 September).

The men are Mikko Vevhilainnen, 32, originally from Finland and a member of the British Army, Mark Barrett, 24, from Northampton, also with the Army, and 22-year-old Alex Deakin from Coventry.

They are all charged with possessing articles that could be used for terrorism and of being part of the banned neo-Nazi group National Action which was banned by the Home Office in 2016.

West Midlands Police said there was no threat to public safety and the arrests were "intelligence-led".

Deakin is charged with alleged possession of documents likely to be useful to a person preparing to commit an act of terrorism and one count of distributing a terrorist publication.

He also faces one count of inciting racial hatred - allegedly posting a number of National Action stickers at the Aston University campus in Birmingham in July 2016.

Vehvilainen has also been charged over for the possession of a document likely to be useful to a person preparing to commit an act of terrorism and two counts of publishing threatening, abusive or insulting comments online intending to stir up racial hatred under the Public Order Act 1986. He has also been charged with possession of a weapon, pepper spray.

They are among five men arrested on 5 September. Two others were released without charge.