A NORTH-EAST tattooist exposed as a leader of the British wing of the Ku Klux Klan has claimed he cut his ties with the notorious white supremacist group because his grandchildren are of mixed race.

Police have questioned Chris Hopgood, who admitted he tried to set up a UK branch of the Klan and is a supporter of the British National Party.

But last night he told The Northern Echo he had turned his back on the hate group when his stepdaughter revealed she was expecting her first child to her Jamaican boyfriend.

Mr Hopgood, known as “Hoppy”

said: “I’m not a racist. I’m a patriot.

“I have grandchildren that are mixed race, so I turned my back on the Klan for the sake of my family.”

The former builder moved to the North-East after meeting his wife of eight years on the internet, and opened Greko Designs in Seaside Lane, Easington Colliery, after working in a tattoo parlour in Sunder- -land.

The pair have 12 children from previous relationships – but the siblings only discovered Mr Hopgood’s affiliation with the KKK when pictures of him dressed in Klan ceremonial clothes and hood were shown in a national newspaper.

Durham Police have interviewed Mr Hopgood but said: “At this stage it appears that no criminal offences have been committed”.

Biker Mr Hopgood, originally from Hampshire, admitted he has always held “unpopular views”, but was lured into the world of the KKK during a trip to the US more than eight years ago.

He said: “I went to a party which was some sort of a gathering.

“At first I was attracted to their principles.

They were very family orientated; it was a brotherhood.

“They put me in touch with some members in Germany. I got in touch and went to meet them in Berlin and the pictures of me in a cloak show me being knighted as a member.

“It was suggested I try to open a UK branch and I set up a website, but soon things began to get a bit more extreme.”

Mr Hopgood said when he became more exposed to their racist practices he stopped his involvement with the white-knights-kkk.co.uk website, which was recently taken down.

He added: “I made a big mistake getting involved with the Klan and I regret that, but it was a mistake and it is in the past.”