Activist condemns Norway atrocities

A former English Defence League activist has admitted he may have inspired Norway massacre suspect Anders Behring Breivik.

Paul Ray said his anti-Muslim blog entitled Richard The Lionhearted could have helped inform Breivik's 1,500 page manifesto in which he justifies the atrocities.

But he condemned the murder of 76 people in twin attacks in Oslo and Utoya on Friday as an act of "pure evil".

Mr Ray, 35, told The Times: "I am being implicated as his (Breivik's) mentor. I definitely could have been his inspiration. It looks like that. But what he did was pure evil. I could never use what he has done to further my own beliefs. What he has done does not equate to anything I am involved in."

It has been widely reported that Breivik made postings on British nationalist websites and in the manifesto released before the attacks he refers to a "mentor". Parallels have since been drawn with blogger Mr Ray, who leads an anti-Islam Knights Templar movement, but he strongly denies having anything to do with the attacks.

Mr Ray, who left the UK to live in Malta in 2008 after being arrested over internet postings allegedly inciting racial hatred, added: "I wish the police would come and talk to me because I have nothing to hide."

Mr Ray's comments came after Norway's domestic intelligence chief said there was no evidence of links between Breivik, 32, and the English far-right. Janne Kristiansen, director of the Norwegian Police Security Service, said: "I can tell you, at this moment in time, we don't have evidence or we don't have indications that he has been part of a broader movement or that he has been in connection with other cells or that there are other cells."

The intelligence chief told the BBC she did not believe the killer was insane, but calculating and evil, and someone who sought the limelight.

Meanwhile, Norwegian police are due to question Breivik for the second time in relation to information that has emerged over the past few days, according to reports.

Breivik has admitted setting off a car bomb in the government district of Oslo, killing at least eight people, and carrying out a shooting spree at the ruling Labour Party's annual youth camp on nearby Utoya island, where 68 people died. However, he denies criminal responsibility and has pleaded not guilty to the charges he faces.