Self-styled nightwatchmen patrol a Scottish village. Their leader is a Nazi

A self-described Nazi who has expressed racist, anti-Semitic and pro-Hitler views conducts late night “patrols” in a Scottish village, The Ferret can reveal.

John Carroll walks the streets of Forth, South Lanarkshire, in the early hours, and claims his volunteer group is watching over the local community and deterring crime.

But he has published a series of YouTube videos in recent months in which he describes his ideology as “national socialist” – or Nazi – and ends each one with a Sieg Heil salute.

The man is one of two administrators of the Forth Sentinel Facebook group, founded in November last year, where he posts videos of his walkabouts.

On his own Facebook page, Carroll has described Asian people as “racial aliens”, shared a quote attributed to Nazi leader Adolf Hitler, and an image which features a skull and crossbones symbol often used by anti-Semites and neo-Nazis who celebrate the Holocaust.

In a video published on YouTube in November, Carroll encouraged viewers to set up their own patrols “if you’re really concerned about immigration and crime, and the deterioration of your community”.

Former Scots neo-Nazi group member involved in Homeland

A member of a now defunct group branded neo-Nazi has been active in a new far right political organisation called Homeland, The Ferret can reveal. Tayside-based James Munro of the Scottish Nationalist Society (SNS), attended Homeland’s summer camp in June this year. Munro and another former SNS member, Jordon

The FerretJamie Mann

MSPs and anti-racism campaigners described Carroll’s views as “abhorrent”. They said Scots who died fighting the Nazis would “be ashamed to know this man was using their legacy for such hatred”.

Carroll rejected claims of racism and anti-Semitism, and defended his Nazi ideology as a belief in “the preservation of a functional civilised society” for all.

The martial arts enthusiast, who posted a picture of himself apparently receiving a black belt in Judo, has also made repeated references to the Führer – the German word for leader, which was adopted by Hitler – in comments he defended as satire.

“When I'm the Führer, Fiona Hyslop the transport minister for Scotland today is getting 10 years in one of my work camps!”, he said in a rant about potholes last December.

Criticising Britain's support for Ukraine after it was invaded by Russia, Carroll said in March that the UK was fighting “another Jew war”. He said “[Volodymyr] Zelensky is a Jew, boo hoo the Jews!!”, and added: “When I'm Führer it will be different”.