Britain First leaders charged with religious harassment

Jayda Fransen charged with four counts and Paul Golding charged with three

Paul Golding and Jayda Fransen, the leader and deputy leader of Britain First (Nick Ansell/PA)

The leader and deputy leader of Britain First have been charged with causing religiously aggravated harassment.

Paul Golding, 35, and Jayda Fransen, 31, were arrested in May as part of an investigation into the distribution of in Thanet and Canterbury and videos posted online during a trial a gang-rape trial at Canterbury Crown Court.

The trial involved three Muslim men and a teenager who were eventually convicted of rape and jailed.

Fransen was charged with four counts of causing religiously aggravated harassment, while Golding was charged with three, Kent Police said.

Both were bailed to appear before Medway magistrates on 17 October.

The former leader of the English Defence League (EDL) was given a suspended prison sentence for contempt of court in May after filming outside the court during the same rape trial.

In a video posted online, Tommy Robinson filmed himself describing the defendants, who had not yet been convicted, as "paedophiles" and claiming: "It's going on across our country."​