Choudary associate faces jail after attacking boy for cuddling girl

An associate of hate preacher Anjem Choudary is facing jail for knocking a schoolboy unconscious because he cuddled a girl in the street.

Michael Coe, 35, was driving through east London when he spotted the two 16-year-olds hugging on the pavement.

The married father of two pulled over to confront the pair, demanding to know if they were Muslims, before calling the boy's girlfriend a "whore".

He then grabbed the youngster by the throat and threw him to the ground before kicking his head as he lay on the floor, leaving him unconscious and bleeding from two head injuries.

When passing schoolteacher Boutho Siwela tried to come to the teenager's aid, he then attacked him.

Coe, who is 6ft 1in and weighs 16-and-a-half stone, admitted "shoving" the boy, who is half his size, but claimed he was acting in self defence.

He was convicted in August following a trial at Southwark Crown Court of assault occasioning actual bodily harm and battery in Wilson Road, Newham, on April 15.

Muslim convert Coe has a long record of violent offences starting when he was 16, including assaults, burglary, robbery and violent disorder.

He was radicalised in prison by al Qaida terrorist Dhiren Barot in 2007, while serving an eight-year term for firing a shotgun at police during an arrest.

Coe, since known as Mikaeel Ibrahim, has attended a number of extremist demonstrations, including protests over the banning of niqabs in France and the values of Sharia law.

He became a close associate of convicted hate preacher Choudary - founder of the banned organisation Al-Muhajiroun, of which Coe was a member.