A former National Front boss has quit the movement and revealed he is gay.

Whitehaven-born Kevin Wilshaw became interested in Nazism around the age of 11 or 12.

He joined the National Front at 18 and was a regional organiser by the age of 20.

He later joined the BNP and was an active white supremacist until earlier this year.

Now he has publicly renounced his involvement, opening up about his Jewish heritage and coming out as gay.

Mr Wilshaw, 58, who grew up in Seaton after spells in Whitehaven, St Bees and Penrith, said he was influenced by his right wing father Jack, a policeman.

Despite not getting on with his father, he wanted to emulate him.

His mother Patricia, who worked as a secretary at Thames Board in Workington, was of Jewish heritage, but Mr Wilshaw said that did not affect his decision to join anti-Semitic demonstrations and rallies.

It was about a faceless race, he said, rather than individual people.

A former pupil of Moorclose School and Workington Grammar School, Mr Wilshaw said he had few friends growing up and joined a group with a common aim to seek comradeship.

He said: "I didn't have contact with anybody from ethnic minorities. There was the occasional doctor or professional who was an ethnic minority but you didn't really see black people or Asian people in Cumbria. I think that had an effect."

He became active in far right circles aged 15 and attended countless rallies and demonstrations.

During his time as a regional organiser, Mr Wilshaw was active in Workington.

He said: "In the 1980s it took off in Workington and West Cumbria, mainly with skinheads.

"We used to sell papers in St John's Precinct every Saturday in Workington."

Mr Winshaw, who worked at Dovenby Hall and lived in Maryport in the 1980s, was involved in a host of high-profile flare ups.

He has admitted hurting people over the years, mainly through "fisticuffs" with anti-Nazi groups and in self defence.

He said: "I think the first violent event I was involved in was at Digbeth Civic Hall in 1978. There was a riot outside the hall. We had to fight our way through. I was 18 or 19 at the time.

"The last violent one was an anti-immigration demonstration in Dover about two years ago."

He recalls one flare up with an opposing political group at a by-election in Leeds.

He said: "I remember smashing a chair over a large gentleman's head. I think I knocked him unconscious. I remember shortly after that I ended up on the floor because someone jumped on my back.

"I have never deliberately attacked anybody and I have never attacked anybody because of their ethnicity. It was always against political opponents."

It was a strange feeling taking part in such violence, he said.

He added: "The adrenaline kicks in in situations like that and you do get a degree of excitement from it, especially when you're young.

"In retrospect, I regret doing it but I don't regret it as much as being part of an organisation that targeted people for their ethnicity."

Mr Wilshaw left Cumbria in 1989 and moved to Buckinghamshire. He spent three months in prison in the early 1990s after vandalising an Aylesbury mosque.

He said: "It made me think about it but because there was a degree of peer pressure and you tend to play to the gallery on things like that I came out and it hadn't changed me at all."

In March this year, Mr Wilshaw found himself arrested again on suspicion of online race hate offences.

This, he said, was a turning point.

He added: "It gave me a spur to look back in retrospect and look at what I have done. It was a wake-up call."

Mr Wilshaw contacted anti-extremism charity Hope Not Hate, linking up with fellow former extremist Matthew Collins, who he had dealings with in his past life.

He said: "I wanted to put things into reverse gear and repair some of the damage I have done.

Finding himself on the receiving end of abuse from people he fought alongside helped put things in perspective for Mr Wilshaw.

Despite having been married and having a son, now 23, he spent decades hiding from fellow campaigners the fact that he was gay.

He said: "I basically kept that part of my life from everybody. People knew when I was at school but people in the far right didn't because I was fastidious at hiding it. The far right is notoriously homophobic."

But word got out as he had been spotted visiting a gay bar.

He added: "I have been the target of homophobia from the far right and that made me look at what it's like to be on the receiving end. That opened my eyes to what it's like and it's not very nice."

Although Mr Wilshaw fears possible revenge from former comrades for speaking out, he is looking forward to focusing his attention on more positive activities in the future, having turned his back on his 43-year "career" as an far right activist.

Speaking publicly about his experiences is one of Mr Winshaw's ways of trying to redress some of the harm his actions have caused over the last 43 years.

He has also met with the Jewish community and hopes to take on anti-extremism campaign work, possibly with Hope Not Hate, as a better use of his time.

He said: "I hope it's going to dissuade people from going down the same path because a lot of youth people could still be tempted by something that seems edgy and radical.

"If you get stuck in it it can take up your whole life. I have wasted my life on it when I could have been doing something constructive.

"Apart from my marriage and my son, which was a positive, the rest of my life has been very destructive and antisocial."

Mr Wilshaw is apprehensive as he works to transform his life but is helped by the support he has received from Hope Not Hate and others.

He said: "I feel quite ashamed of the harm I have done both directly and indirectly."

For more details about Hope Not Hate visit hopenothate.org.uk