A French Holocaust denier living in Britain, who was convicted by the French courts last year, has been arrested in Edinburgh after spending two years on the run.

52-year-old Vincent Reynouard was sentenced to jail for four months on 25th November 2020 by a court in Paris and again in January 2021 for six months, in addition to fines. His latest conviction concerns a series of antisemitic postings on Facebook and Twitter and a 2018 YouTube video for which fellow French Holocaust denier, Hervé Ryssen (also known as Hervé Lalin), received a seventeen-month jail term earlier that year.

However, Mr Reynouard fled the country before serving his sentence and settled in the UK, where he reportedly worked as a private tutor teaching children mathematics, physics, and chemistry. 

In the UK, private tutors are not required to undergo background checks.

According to far-right activist Fabrice Jérôme Bourbon — who was himself convicted in December 2021 in connection with the denial of war crimes and defending Hervé Ryssen and fined €8,000 — Mr Reynouard was visited by local police and Interpol on 25th October 2021.

Mr Bourbon claimed that police and Interpol visited Mr Reynouard’s flat at the time, believed to be in Kent, at around 16:00 to apprehend him and potentially initiate extradition proceedings. Mr Reynouard allegedly concealed his identity and fled the scene.

On 11th November 2022, he was arrested in Edinburgh. Scottish police reportedly arrested him in a hotel room in Edinburgh, where he was apparently living under a false identity. He was brought before a judge on the same day and refused extradition to France. He is being held pending a further hearing with French authorities being anxious to ensure his return to his home country to serve his sentence.

Mr Reynouard faces almost two years in a French prison, in addition to any further sentence in relation to other ongoing proceedings.

The Office Central de Lutte Contre les Crimes Contre l’Humanité, les Génocides et les Crimes de Guerre (OCLCH) — the arm of the French gendarmerie that specialises in hate crime and war crimes — has been leading the investigation.

General Jean-Philippe Reiland of the OCLCH said: “Vincent Reynouard was able to be arrested thanks to a huge effort of international cooperation and in particular thanks to our British counterparts. Despite the legal difficulties that may exist, the Office will not let go of the ideologues who propagate hatred, wherever they are".

Mr Reynouard’s first Holocaust denial conviction was in 1991 for distributing leaflets denying the existence of the gas chambers at concentration camps. Holocaust denial has been a criminal offence in France since 1990. He has been convicted on numerous occasions and his subsequent sentences include multiple prison terms and a €10,000 fine.

A spokesperson for Campaign Against Antisemitism said: “Vincent Reynouard is a despicable Holocaust denier who has repeatedly been convicted by French courts. For him to have evaded justice, only to settle in the UK as a private tutor teaching children, is intolerable, which is why we worked with French Jewish organisations to secure his extradition so that he faces the consequences of his abhorrent incitement."