A North Yorkshire man has launched an appeal against the UK’s first conviction for inciting racial hatred online.

Simon Sheppard, 52, of Brook Street, Selby, was sentenced to four years and ten months, and Stephen Whittle, 42, of Avenham Lane, Preston, was jailed for two years and four months at Leeds Crown Court in July.

During their first trial in 2008, they skipped bail and fled to California, where they sought asylum claiming they were being persecuted for their right-wing views, but were deported.

The investigation began when a complaint about a leaflet called “Tales of the Holohoax” was reported to the police in 2004 after it was pushed through the door of a synagogue in Blackpool. It was traced back to a post office box in Hull registered to Sheppard. Police later found published material including grotesque images of murdered Jews alongside cartoons and articles ridiculing ethnic groups.

The pair were charged under the Public Order Act with publishing racially inflammatory material, distributing racially inflammatory material and possessing racially inflammatory material with a view to distribution. Sheppard was found guilty of 16 offences and Whittle was found guilty of five. Sentencing, Judge Rodney Grant said that he had rarely seen material which was so abusive and insulting.

At the Court of Appeal in London, Sheppard’s counsel, Adrian Davies, said that the articles were posted on a website in California where there was no doubt that they were “entirely lawful and enjoyed the highest degree of constitutional protection under the laws of the United States”.

The hearing resumes today.