Mark Meechan, the YouTuber known as Count Dankula, was convicted in 2018 over a video in which his girlfriend’s pug appeared to respond to Nazi-related commands. The reported conviction was for sending a grossly offensive communication under section 127(1)(a) of the Communications Act 2003, with prejudice aggravations—not for a standalone hate-crime offence. He was fined £800.
What was in the pug video?
In April 2016, Meechan uploaded a video titled “M8 Yer Dugs A Nazi.” In it, his girlfriend’s pug, Buddha, appears to react to Nazi-related prompts, including “Sieg Heil” and “gas the Jews.” Columbia’s case account describes the video as about two and a half minutes long.
Meechan said he made the video to annoy his girlfriend and create a comic effect. The court’s reported finding differed: it treated the video as intended to be shared online and as highly offensive. Those are competing accounts of purpose, not the same established fact.
What offence was he convicted of?
The legal-news account identifies the conviction as an offence under section 127(1)(a) of the Communications Act 2003, concerning the sending of a grossly offensive message by means of a public electronic communications network. The reports describe the offence as aggravated by religious prejudice and racism.
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That distinction matters. “Convicted of a hate crime” is a common shorthand in coverage, but Scottish Government material distinguishes an offence with a prejudice aggravation from a standalone offence designated as a hate crime. The available accounts do not say Meechan was convicted under a separate hate-crime statute.
Nor was this a conviction under Scotland’s Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act 2021: the conviction was entered in 2018 under the Communications Act 2003.
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Why was Count Dankula fined?
The court’s reported view was that the video was highly offensive and made for online distribution. The Independent and Columbia’s case account report that Meechan was fined £800 in April 2018. The Independent also reported that the video had received more than three million views; that figure is a news report, not an independently verified platform count in the available accounts.
What happened to his appeals?
Sheriff Appeal Court
In August 2018, the Sheriff Appeal Court refused leave to appeal, according to the reports. This meant the appeal could not proceed by that route.
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High Court petition
Meechan later petitioned the High Court of Justiciary using the nobile officium, an exceptional procedure, arguing that appeal legislation had left a gap. Scottish Legal News reports that the court rejected the petition, finding no gap or extraordinary circumstances and referring to the stated-case route. The full final opinion and primary trial judgment are not available in the cited accounts, so this description reflects secondary reporting rather than an independent reading of the judgments.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What the case does—and does not—settle
The case joined a criminal prosecution over an online video to a broader political dispute about freedom of expression. Its reported legal basis was a communications offence, aggravated by prejudice; it should not be collapsed into the claim that the court convicted Meechan under a standalone hate-crime law. The reported findings about the video’s purpose also differ from Meechan’s explanation that it was a joke intended to annoy his girlfriend.
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The case should be read within the law and procedure applied at the time. The reports establish the conviction, fine, and unsuccessful appeal attempts, but they do not by themselves settle every broader question about the limits of comedy, offensive speech, or how later Scottish legislation applies to other cases.
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Sources
- Columbia’s case account on the video, court’s reported findings, and fine.
- Scottish Legal News on the High Court petition and the reported reasoning.
- The Independent on the fine, appeal history, and reported view count.
- Scottish Government material distinguishing prejudice-aggravated offences from standalone hate-crime offences.
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