A YouTuber who taught his girlfriend's dog to perform a Nazi salute and posted a video of it online has been fined £800.

In the short video, titled M8 Yer Dugs a Nazi, Mark Meechan asks the pug if it wants to "gas the Jews" 23 times.

It then raises a paw in an imitation of a Nazi salute when Meechan says "sieg heil".

The video was watched more than three million times after it was uploaded to YouTube, leading to the 30-year-old's arrest in April 2016.

Meechan, of Coatbridge, North Lanarkshire, claimed the video was made to annoy his girlfriend and denied any wrongdoing.

But during a hearing at Airdrie Sheriff Court last month sheriff Derek O'Carroll described the video as "threatening and grossly offensive", as well as anti-semitic.

He said Meechan, who is also known by the name Count Dankula, had "not taken any steps to prevent the video being shared publicly".

Meechan said he would appeal the fine after leaving Airdrie Sheriff Court on Monday.

He added: "For people to say things, their context to be completely ignored and then they can be convicted for it, basically you don't get to decide the context of what you said, other people don't get to, the court decides to - that's dangerous."

Dozens of people turned up at court to protest Meechan's conviction, including English Defence League co-founder Tommy Robinson.

Robinson said: "I think the police have used the Jewish community in this instance to silence people and they've actually tried to tarnish the Jewish community as though they can't take a joke.

"At worst it is distasteful humour, it certainly is not inciting religious hatred against Jews.

"Frankie Boyle has said far worse things so why hasn't he been prosecuted?"