A former member of a far right organisation has apologised to the congregation of a Crayford mosque he once joined the group in terrorising.

Former Britain First member Matthew Lester, 26, gave an emotional address to a packed Friday prayer meeting at the North West Kent Muslim Association in Crayford High Street on November 21.

The self-employed tablet computer salesman of Ramilies Road, Blackfen, was a member of former Swanley BNP councillor Paul Golding’s group for eight months.

But he quit at the end of October, accusing them of targeting Muslims in general rather than combating Islamic extremists.

Matthew took part in a Britain First protest outside Crayford mosque in July, which followed Mr Golding’s ‘invasion’ of the building earlier in the month, when he demanded separate entrance signs for men and women be taken down.

But on Friday Matthew told members of the mosque: "Britain First are a minority.

"Don’t let them give you a perception of what we think of you.

"The majority of us want unity and we want to stand together.

"Thank you for accepting my apologies and together we are stronger."

Matthew is originally from Birmingham but moved to Blackfen two years ago.

He has also visited mosques in Brent Cross and Tower Hamlets to say sorry.

He told News Shopper: "Britain First were just manipulating my view and telling me what I wanted to hear.

"They were just basically saying they were going to help the homeless and give blankets out but they never bothered.

"They were just focussing on Muslims rather than extremists.

"I feel more back to my old self now.

"I was eating a lot of the crap they were spewing and it’s quite easy to get sucked in without realising.

"I am a patriot who calls for unity, not segregation."

Crayford mosque volunteer Syed Alam was there for Matthew’s speech.

He said: "We are peaceful people who don’t want trouble with anyone.

"If someone comes and wants to cause trouble for us and then realises it’s not a good thing for him that’s great.

"He’s welcome at the mosque any time."