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BNP activist fined after racial abuse of his neighbour

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A BNP activist has been fined after racially abusing a neighbour whose grandmother died in the Holocaust.

Roy West told German-born Bernd Kugow to “go back to krautland and kill some more Jews” during an argument outside their homes in Dukinfield, Lancashire.

Unemployed West, 44, had denied a charge of racially aggravated abuse in August last year, but changed his plea moments before appearing at Tameside Magistrates’ Court last week.

He began the tirade after trying to fix a Union Jack flag to his neighbour’s shed.

Another five flags were already displayed outside his home.

When Mr Kugow asked him to remove the flag, West called him a “kraut” and told him to “remember Dunkirk”. West later sent a letter of apology and a box of chocolates, but only admitted the Dunkirk reference.

The Tameside Advertiser reported that West’s solicitor, Kevin Nicholas, told the court his client had found it hard to admit the offence because of his position in the BNP. He stood unsuccessfully in last May’s local elections, receiving 734 votes.

West was fined £125 and told to pay costs of £200 as well as a £15 victim surcharge and £50 compensation.

Before an earlier hearing into the case last October, BNP leader Nick Griffin had encouraged supporters to demonstrate outside the court, saying the party needed “decent people to come out from all over the country and show their opposition to the treasonous behaviour of the ruling elite”, but West later called off the protest.

Meanwhile the BNP has cancelled a leafleting event scheduled to take place in Liverpool on March 14.

Merseyside Police had earlier postponed a Premier League match between Everton and Stoke City, due to be played the same afternoon, over fears officers could not cope with manning both events.

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