United Kingdom - Tory Politician A Member Of Feared Biker Gang

OFF THE WIRE
 citytalk.fm
Councillor Jim Mason is a cabinet member on Tewkesbury Council and a former mayor.
He is also a full patch member of the Outlaws, which is classed as an organised crime group by police forces all over the world.
Members of the Outlaws have been convicted of a number of high profile offences; they gunned down a Hells Angel on the M40, they were part of a mass brawl at Birmingham Airport, and the group's main leaders - including the European and UK president, Dink - are currently in prison for drugs offences.
Sky News has also discovered a picture of Mr Mason in his biker colours where he seems to have a Nazi SS badge on his jacket, underneath is a well-known Outlaws patch, reading "God forgives, Outlaws don't".
Canadian journalist Julian Sher is an expert on biker gangs. He told Sky News: "Jim Mason is a member of an organised structured biker gang that has uniforms and ranks, that is going to war and has spilled the blood of enemies just because they're rival gangs.
"It doesn't matter whether you, individually, are engaged in crime, it doesn't matter if any of the members of your chapter are engaged in crime - your club, your gang is at war."
Earlier this week, Sky News confronted Mr Mason about his double life.
Initially, he denied he was a member of the Outlaws and then walked away from our cameras.
Later he told Sky News he "is not a member of the Outlaws and hasn't been for some time".
However, it is very rare for someone to be allowed to leave a biker gang.
One of three pictures of Councillor Mason in his biker colours was taken in September 2009.
The Outlaws are involved in a bitter turf war with the Hells Angels, which is being played out in tit-for-tat bombings, shootings and arson attacks around the world.
The shooting of Hells Angel Gerry Tobin in the UK in 2007 was an example of the random nature of the violence.
He was murdered by Outlaws members while riding on the M40 motorway. The only reason he was targeted was because he was a Hells Angel.
Members of the two gangs also clashed in the arrivals hall at Birmingham Airport in 2008.
Around 30 bikers took part in the mass brawl. Many came armed with knifes, hammers and even a machete.
When seven men were later sentenced for their part in the mini riot, the judge acknowledged that many of them were decent family men. But when the call came to mobilise, they had obeyed orders.
Julian Sher is well aware of the militaristic organisation of all the biker gangs.
He said: "This is a very structured, disciplined, gang. For all the myths about the freedom of the road and the bikers being rebels, they're in a very disciplined, tightly controlled army - an army that's at war. And when you're at war everybody's got to do their share."
Jim Mason has been a councillor since 1999. He was the mayor of Tewkesbury in 2003-4 and is still a member of the council's ruling cabinet.
There is no suggestion that he has been involved in any illegality.
In a statement, Tewkesbury Council's chief executive Mike Dawson said: "In my experience, councillor Mason undertakes his role as a councillor in a manner that is compatible to the principles governing councillors' conduct."
The Conservative Party declined to comment.