Anjem Choudary jailed for five and a half years for drumming up support for IS

An associate of Anjem Choudary's, Abdul Hakeem, has said that imprisoning Choudary will not prevent his message from being distributed, and may in fact strengthen the hate preacher in the eyes of his followers.

Speaking to ITV News' Security Editor Rohit Kachroo, he said: "The only issue is, who's going to fill his shoes?"

Anti-terror police have hailed the conviction of Anjem Choudary as a "significant" victory in the fight against home-grown terrorism.

Commander Dean Haydon, head of the Met’s counter-terror command, said they had finally seen the hate preacher and his co-defendant jailed after years of "frustration" as they skirted the bounds of the law.

"Their recent speeches and the oath of allegiance were a turning point for the police - at last we had the evidence that they had stepped over the line and we could prove they were actively encouraging support of ISIS," he said.

Police and prosecutors had long been working to find grounds to convict Anjem Choudary, the Director of Public Prosecutions said today, after the hate preacher was jailed for five-and a half-years.

Alison Saunders said the CPS were "very pleased" they had finally been able to prosecute Choudary after he publicly supported so-called Islamic State.

"Prosecutors have been looking and working with the police for a long time to make sure that we were able to bring him to justice," she told ITV News.

Hate preacher Anjem Choudary was described as a "calculating" character who had deliberately supported "violent terrorist activity" as he was jailed for supporting so-called Islamic State.

Mr Justice Holroyde said that Choudary and his co-defendant Mohammed Rahman were both dangerous men who had deliberately used their speaking skills to influence impressionable followers as he sentenced them.

He described Rahman as a "hothead" while Choudary was more "calculating" and the more experienced.

"You are both mature men and intelligent men who knew throughout exactly what you were doing. You are both fluent and persuasive speakers," he added.

Hate preacher Anjem Choudary has been sentenced to five years and six months in prison for campaigning in support of so-called Islamic State.

He was sentenced together with co-defendant Mohammed Rahman at the Old Bailey in London.

Both men were convicted in July of inviting support for so-called Islamic State - an offence which carries a maximum sentence of ten years.

Choudary, who was born in the UK and lived off benefits, was convicted after making a a series of speeches in support of IS which were posted on YouTube.

He had previously managed to skirt the law despite being notorious as a hate preacher with a series of supporters who had gone on to commit terrorism offences.

The court was told earlier today that Choudary regretted his support for IS as he had aimed to act with the law but "on the boundaries" of what was allowed.

"He is determined not to cross those boundaries in the future," his barrister had said.