A British Muslim convert who knocked out a 16-year-old boy for hugging a girl on the street was sentenced to 28 months in jail in London on Monday, Press Association reports.

Michael Coe, 35, approached the pair in Newham, East London, and demanded to know if they were Muslims, Southwark Crown Court heard.

He then called the girl a whore before grabbing the boy by the throat, throwing him to the ground and kicking him in the head.

An associate of convicted British Islamic fundamentalist hate preacher Anjem Choudary, Coe had converted to radical Islam during a previous prison stint, the court heard.

At the sentencing, Judge Michael Gledhill told Coe: “You stopped to reprimand them, and you were acting as a self-appointed enforcer of your interpretation at the time of how Muslims should behave.”

Gledhill added that the teenagers had denied being Muslim when challenged by Coe. “Denying their religion shows just how threatening you were,” he added.

Coe claimed he was acting in self-defence, but was found guilty of assault occasioning actual bodily harm and battery in August.

He had previously been convicted of religiously aggravated assault after telling a Muslim woman it was against Islam for her to talk to a group of men.

(dpa/NAN)