A man who filmed his girlfriend's pug giving Nazi salutes and posted the video on YouTube has been found guilty of a hate crime. Mark Meechan, 30, from Coatbridge, Lanarkshire, recorded the dog, Buddha, raising its paw in response to phrases such as 'gas the Jews' and 'Sieg Heil'. The clip, posted in April 2016, was viewed more than three million times before being taken down.
At Airdrie Sheriff Court, Meechan denied wrongdoing, claiming he made the video to annoy his girlfriend, Suzanne Kelly. However, Sheriff Derek O'Carroll convicted him under the Communications Act, ruling the video was 'grossly offensive' and 'anti-semitic and racist in nature', aggravated by religious prejudice. The sheriff stated he did not believe the video was made solely to annoy his girlfriend and noted Meechan left it online to drive traffic to his other content.
During the trial, defence lawyer Ross Brown argued the video was intended for a small group and was a joke, but the sheriff concluded Meechan knew the material was offensive. Comedian Ricky Gervais criticised the verdict on Twitter, saying, 'If you don't believe in a person's right to say things that you might find 'grossly offensive', then you don't believe in Freedom of Speech.'
