White supremacist Philip Neville Arps' appeal over shooting video sentence dismissed by Court of Appeal

Philip Arps at a previous appearance. Photo / Mark Mitchell

Self-confessed white supremacist Philip Neville Arps, who was jailed for sharing the Christchurch mosque shooting video, has lost a second appeal against his sentence.

Arps, 44, who thought graphic and banned footage of the Al Noor Mosque attack on March 15 was "awesome", was jailed for 21 months at Christchurch District Court in June after admitting two charges of distributing an objectionable publication.

Judge Stephen O'Driscoll said at the time Arps, who owns a white supremacist-themed insulation company, had "glorified" the killings and showed "particular cruelty" and callousness.

Arps shared the video of the Christchurch shootings, in which 51 people died, with a group of 30 "associates".

Arps also had a version of the video modified to have "crosshairs" and a "kill count" added.

His offending was, in effect, a hate crime against the Muslim community, Judge O'Driscoll said at the time.

When he was arrested and asked by police about the victims' deaths, he replied, "I could not give a f***, mate".

Arps appealed to the High Court that his sentence was "manifestly excessive", but lost.

Now the Court of Appeal has also thrown out his appeal, with Justice David Collins stating in his decision Arps' statements demonstrated "profound hostility towards Muslim people".

His previous conviction for offensive behaviour also demonstrated this "deep-seated hostility".

The court was also asked to consider whether Arps' freedom of expression had been impinged on, and if he was engaged in free speech when distributing the video.

Collins said while the right to freedom of expression was wide-ranging and expansive, in this case there was a "minimal impairment" and overall a "proportionate response" in order to carry out the objective of legislating against hate crimes.

In 2016, Arps was one of a group of men who filmed themselves doing Hitler salutes as they delivered boxes of pigs heads and offal to the Al Noor mosque in Christchurch.

"White power ... Bring on the cull," Arps was seen saying in the video.

In that case, he was convicted of offensive behaviour and fined $800.