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The court was told the neo-Nazi Australian Nationalist Movement (ANM) members concocted the plot as a stunt to coincide with the release of van Tongeren’s book, The ANM Story.

They were arrested after some ANM members were charged over racist graffiti in Perth, with two rolling over and giving evidence about the plot.

Van Blitterswyk’s lawyer Evan Shackleton told the court his client had turned his life around since being a follower of van Tongeren - the “mastermind and catalyst” of the racist ANM movement.

“The ANM is a spent force. The white flag has gone up. It is finished,” Mr Shackleton said.

He called for a suspended sentence, saying his client had become a father in April and was employing six people in his carpentry business in the town of Gingin, 100km north of Perth.

Judge Michael O’Sullivan said it was clear van Tongeren had a considerable influence on Van Blitterswyk.

However, he jailed him for two years and four months for the racially motivated crime.

“It is un-Australian,” Judge O’Sullivan said.

“No-one in this country should be at risk of attack because of their ethnic background.”

Van Blitterswyk was made eligible for parole, at an unspecified date, and his sentence will be reduced by 90 days for time already spent in custody.

Van Tongeren, 58, pleaded guilty last November and was given a two year suspended sentence, after his lawyer told the court the former Vietnam Veteran was a sick and broken man.

He was ordered to leave Western Australia and is now believed to be living in Victoria where he reportedly recently won an art prize in the town of Inverloch.

Van Tongeren and Van Blitterswyk have been sentenced before after being found guilty in 1990 for conspiring to drive Asians from the state and trying to incite a race hate war.

Van Tongeren served his full 12-year jail sentence, while Van Blitterswyk was released early from his 14-year sentence.

Outside the court on Thursday, Detective Sergeant Dave Ellery said the ANM had been mostly dismantled but WA police would continue to monitor former members and associates.

“These people were released after a lengthy penalty and they re-formed again, but let’s hope they learned by their mistakes,” he said.

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Van Tongeren, 59, and Van Blitterswyk, 55, recruited young ANM members Daniel Tyrone Klavins, Matthew Peter Billing and Ian “Monty” Johnson to firebomb the Man Lin restaurant in Karawara, the Ko-Sing in Lynwood, the Foo-Win in Southlands and a fourth Chinese restaurant to be chosen later.

The firebombings were to be conducted as a publicity stunt in mid-2004 in the days before van Tongeren released his book, The ANM Story, and van Tongeren and Van Blitterswyk planned to run for the Senate that year.

It can now be revealed that van Tongeren pleaded guilty to conspiring to firebomb the restaurants in November last year and was released by District Court Chief Judge Antoinette Kennedy, who took into account the two years and one month he had spent in custody awaiting trial.

Judge Kennedy imposed the sentence conditional on van Tongeren leaving WA within seven days and moving interstate to live with family. Van Tongeren’s change of plea came just three weeks after he broke down in court.

Van Tongeren and Van Blitterswyk’s convictions come 17 years after they were jailed in 1990 over an 18-month terror campaign by the ANM in the late 1980s that involved the firebombing of Chinese restaurants, racist posters and a string of burglaries.

Under strict rules governing the admissibility of evidence, details of the men ’s criminal histories were not revealed to the jury at Van Blitterswyk ’s trial.

It was also not revealed to the jury that Billing, an ANM recruit who skipped bail with van Tongeren and spent six weeks on the run, pleaded guilty to being involved in the firebombing conspiracy and conspiring to defeat the course of justice.

Billing was sentenced to 4 years jail, with eligibility for parole after 2 years.

Klavins, the ANM’s former security chief and founder of the racist White Devils group, received a suspended sentence of 2 years after making a confession.

Mr Johnson told the jury that he agreed to be involved but backed out soon after.

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Mr Johnson said he was asked to conduct the bombings with fellow ANM member Matthew Peter Billing as a publicity stunt ahead of the release of Mr van Tongeren’s book, The ANM Story. Mr van Tongeren and Mr Van Blitterswyk planned to “go underground” after the bombings, Mr Johnson said.

Asked why he accepted the request, Mr Johnson said: “I don’t know, it was stupid I guess. I thought it was interesting to know Jack van Tongeren.” Mr Johnson was giving evidence at the trial of Mr Van Blitterswyk on a charge of conspiring with other ANM members to firebomb four Chinese restaurants in Perth in mid-2004.

Mr Johnson said that after he agreed to take part in the firebombings, Mr van Tongeren, whom he first met in 2000 or 2001, told him that Mr Billing would call him to arrange the details.

Mr Johnson said he got along well with Mr Billing, whom he had first met in early 2004 when they chatted while driving from Mandurah to Perth together to take part in an antiwar rally. “He liked horror movies and I am a big horror movie fan,” Mr Johnson said. Mr Johnson was drinking at the Wembley Hotel a week or two after the carpark meeting when Mr Billing called him and said he was in Perth getting a tattoo done.

Mr Billing then came to the hotel, and Mr Johnson said he suggested to him that they could destroy Chinese restaurants by rigging up an LPG cylinder with a fuse and detonating it but his interest in being involved in the bombings declined after Mr Billing told him Daniel Klavins would also be involved.

Mr Johnson said he had been assured that only he, Mr Billing, Mr van Tongeren and Mr Van Blitterswyk knew about the firebombings.

“The circle of trust had been broken,” Mr Johnson said.

Mr Johnson said that after he had a fight with his girlfriend, he decided he no longer wanted to take part in the firebombings and threw his mobile phone SIM card in a fish tank so Mr Billing could not call him.

Mr Johnson said police had never charged him over the firebombing plan but denied this was because he had agreed to dob in Mr van Tongeren and Mr Van Blitterswyk.

The trial continues on Monday.

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Daniel Tyrone Klavins, 29, told a District Court trial that ANM leader Jack van Tongeren and deputy John Anthony Van Blitterswyk asked him and Matthew Peter Billing to conduct the firebombings the day before Mr van Tongeren released his book, The ANM Story Mr Klavins was giving evidence at the trial of Mr Van Blitterswyk, who is accused of conspiring with four other alleged ANM members to firebomb four Chinese restaurants in Perth between May 1 and August 6, 2004.

Cross-examined by defence lawyer Richard Utting, Mr Klavins agreed that he had co-operated with police and was giving evidence in a deal which saw him get a suspended jail term after he pleaded guilty to charges over the firebombing conspiracy In a recorded telephone call from Hakea Prison, which was played in court, Mr Klavins ’ wife told him police had warned that he was facing further charges and, if he did not help them, faced 13 years in jail.

Both Mr Klavins and his wife, who recently gave birth to their daughter,

then told each other they would cooperate with police.

Mr Klavins said he had a hatred of Asians and black people and had set up his own racist group called the White Devils before he met the two ANM leaders in 2002.

He was appointed ANM “security chief” and Mr van Tongeren had wanted him to recruit people through the White Devils social club which operated from his Rossmoyne home.

Mr van Tongeren and Mr Van Blitterswyk asked him and Mr Billing to firebomb four Chinese restaurants in June 2004, he said.

But Mr van Tongeren later told him that Ian “Monty” Johnson would replace him in the bombings, which were to be delayed until after a “posterup campaign”.

Mr Klavins said he was enthusiastic about the firebombing plans but denied he was disappointed when told that “Monty” would take over his role.

He said he had made a “stupid decision” to take part in an “orgy” of racist graffiti with Mr Billing targeting areas in Winthrop, Bassendean and Leederville.

But he denied he was still a racist and said he had thrust aside his previous racist feelings as a result of his time in jail.

But Mr Klavins said he still admired Mr van Tongeren and described him as “one of the nicest men you will ever meet”. The trial continues.

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Daniel Tyrone Klavins said ANM leader Jack van Tongeren and deputy John Anthony Van Blitterswyk asked him and Matthew Peter Billing to conduct the firebombings the day before Mr van Tongeren released his book, The ANM Story.

“I was enthusiastic, I said yes,” Mr Klavins, 29, said. He claimed Mr Billing was also keen and suggested that down the track they could firebomb up to 10 Chinese restaurants a night and target Asians, “as in killing them or physically hurting them”. Mr Klavins was giving evidence at the District Court trial of Mr Van Blitterswyk on a charge of conspiring with four other alleged ANM members Mr van Tongeren, Mr Klavins, Mr Billing and Ian “Monty” Johnson to firebomb four Chinese restaurants in Perth between May 1 and August 6, 2004.

Mr Klavins told the court he met Mr van Tongeren and Mr Van Blitterswyk in October 2002 and was told that Mr van Tongeren was in charge of the ANM and that Mr Van Blitterswyk was second-in-charge.

Mr Klavins said he agreed to join the ANM and set up his own unit, to which he later recruited more than 40 people. He admitted he was racist at the time and that he had set up a racist group called the White Devils. He said the ANM ’s objective was to “take over Australia and give it back to its people” and that Mr van Tongeren wanted to be the nation ’s leader, send all foreigners home, abolish taxation and make Alice Springs the national capital.

Mr Klavins said it was on June 6, 2004, when Mr van Tongeren and Mr Van Blitterswyk asked him and Mr Billing to firebomb four Chinese restaurants.

Mr Klavins said the firebombings were to be conducted “within two or three weeks, the day before the release of the book The ANM Story, by Jack van Tongeren”.

But Mr Klavins said that Mr van Tongeren told him a short time later that Mr Johnson would replace him in conducting the firebombings and that the bombings should be delayed until after a “poster-up campaign”.

Mr Klavins said that in July 2004, he, Mr Billing and four other men put up stickers, posters and graffiti at a Menora synagogue, a Mt Lawley Chinese restaurant, a Bayswater police station and other locations featuring swastikas and messages including “Jews out”, “Gooks will die” and “The ANM Story, read it now”. Mr Klavins was arrested shortly after the graffiti campaign.

In his opening address yesterday, defence lawyer Richard Utting told the jury there was a great temptation for co-accused, such as Mr Johnson and Mr Klavins, to minimise their role in an affair and maximise the role of others.

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