A MAN and woman from Banbury are among a group of six people who will face trial in Birmingham accused of being members of banned far-right group National Action.

Adam Thomas, 21, and Claudia Patatas, 38, both of Waltham Gardens have been charged with being members of the group between December 17 and September 5 last year.

They appeared before the courts at the Old Bailey alongside Nathan Pryke, 26; Darren Fletcher, 28; Daniel Bogunovic, 26; and 24-year-old Joel Wilmore.

All six were charged after the inquiry involving the West Midlands Counter Terrorism Unit, supported by colleagues in four other regions.

Thomas is also accused of possessing information of a kind likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism.

The five men gave their nationalities as British while Patatas told the court she is Portuguese.

Thomas and Patatas, of Banbury, Pryke, of Dartford Road, March, Cambridgeshire; Fletcher, of Kitchen Lane, Wednesfield, Wolverhampton; Bogunovic, of Crown Hills Rise, Leicester; and Wilmore, of Bramhall Moor Lane, Hazel Grove, Stockport, will face trial at Birmingham Crown Court on a date to be set.

Patatas was released on conditional bail, while the men were remanded in custody.

The decision by the Government to ban National Action came into force in December 2016, making membership of the group a criminal offence carrying a sentence of up to 10 years' imprisonment.

At the time the ban was brought in, the Home Office said the neo-Nazi group was the first far-right organisation to be proscribed as a terrorist organisation.