Irish Neo-Nazis reeling after Blood and Honour organiser unveiled as ‘informant’

The case against Robert Talland is being heard at Woolwich Crown Court, where he is accused of stirring up race hate as well as “encouraging terrorism”.

Talland is better known to his Hitler-worshipping goons in Ulster as ‘Ginger Rob’. He has been a regular visitor to Northern Ireland over the last couple of decades.

The 54-year-old has played a leading role in promoting the Blood and Honour movement over here.

The Ulster Division has staged numerous gigs in recent times, as the Sunday World has exposed.

But Neo-Nazis in Northern Ireland were sent into meltdown this week after his trial started.

The court was told Talland had been passing on information about fellow far-right members to the police.

His barrister argued Talland had been an important police informant – accusing the prosecution of playing down his role as a tout.

A far-right insider told us: “There has always been speculation that someone from within the organisation was tipping off the cops and press about the Blood and Honour gigs in Ulster.

“The stories were too close to the knuckle to be guesswork. Now the finger of blame is firmly being pointed at Talland.

“There are some very worried people who were involved in setting up those gigs in Belfast over the years. They want to know if Talland was passing on their names and information too.”

The Sunday World understands Ginger Rob has attended recent Ulster Blood and Honour shows.

Sources have told us the Belfast organiser of the gigs made contact with Talland through his Rampage Records label, which promotes White Power bands from around the world.

With his connections, he was able to organise and liaise with the Belfast man – whose identity we know but aren’t revealing at this stage – to bring bands to the city.

“Nothing happens in that scene without the knowledge of Ginger Rob,” added our source.

“With him spilling the beans there are a lot of worried people here. It could spell the end of the B and H scene in Northern Ireland.

“Who’s going to get involved in anything like that, now they know they were working with a police informer?”

During the first day of the trial, it emerged Talland attended several secret meetings with Special Branch officers.

He had handed over names of far-right “pals” and given details of neo-Nazi bands who have also played here.

Talland, from Waltham Abbey in Essex, is accused of encouraging terrorism through records released on his label.

His two children, Stephen (34) and Rosie (32) – who played in a band called Embers of an Empire – are accused of stirring up racial hatred through concert performances and an album called Phoenix Rising.

Talland allegedly made “considerable sums of money” through his label, merchandise and putting on gigs across Europe for a network of far-right bands called Blood and Honour, the court heard.

One of the largest events celebrated a musician called Ian Stuart Donaldson, who founded Blood and Honour and died in a car crash in 1993.

Donaldson fronted notorious band Skrewdriver – a favourite of UDA boss Johnny Adair.

But bombshell revelations about Talland’s cooperation with the cops were read out in court.

Martin Hall, a retired Special Branch officer with Northamptonshire Police, described four meetings with Talland between September 6, 2011 and August 5, 2014.

He said these meetings took place to obtain information to “assist local policing” in managing the gigs.

At the first meeting, held at a motorway service station on the M1, Talland told him about a “splinter group” called the Racial Volunteer Force, Mr Hall said.

But when asked about that year’s memorial concert, he was “very vague and wouldn’t give specifics about numbers or venues”, Mr Hall added.

At a second meeting on August 29, 2013, the court heard Talland told Mr Hall that bands would be travelling from Italy and Germany and there would be British bands including Whitelaw, Nemesis, Brutal Attack and Legion of St George.

Alistair Richardson, prosecuting, said Talland was asked if Blood and Honour had any members attending from Northamptonshire, and he gave three names.

At a follow-up meeting on September 8, 2013, held at a supermarket in Northampton, Mr Hall was told the event would start on September 20 at the Red Lion truck stop, near junction 16 of the M1 in Northamptonshire, the court heard.

The last meeting was held on August 5, 2014 at the same supermarket. Mr Hall was told that year’s gig would take place between September 19 and 21, although a venue had not yet been agreed, the jury was told.

Talland was asked if anyone from Northamptonshire would attend and “gave his own and three other names”, Mr Hall said.

Mark Gadsden, defending, claimed there had been other meetings and accused Mr Hall of “downplaying the usefulness of Mr Talland”.

The barrister said Mr Hall had asked Talland to let him know if there was “anyone behaving unpredictably or [who] might be a bit of a loose cannon”. Talland had told him about a drug user expelled from the group.

He also told Mr Hall about where members would stay the night after a gig.

“There was no secrecy, was there?” Mr Gadsden asked. “There was no, ‘I won’t let you know this because you might go out and arrest him or investigate him’? He was open and honest.”

Mr Gadsden said Talland and Mr Hall got on “pretty well”. The officer “only had to ask and he gave it to you”, he said.

All the defendants deny charges of stirring up racial hatred and Robert Talland also denies encouraging terrorism. The trial continues.

Ulster B and H are a relatively small but active branch of the Blood and Honour group and we recently revealed how they staged a neo-Nazi gig in Belfast.

Notorious British band Brutal Assault were joined at the secretive show by two bands from Europe.

It wasn’t the first time the hate-filled bands have held secret gigs in Northern Ireland. The Sunday World was told there were plans for many more gigs after the Nazi-supporting lunatics were chased from holding their gigs in Britain.

Following these revelations, it’s unclear if anyone will want to get involved in the near future.