Anjem Choudary’s transformation from booze-swilling and dope-smoking student to notorious hate preacher

EVIL Anjem Choudary went from beer-swilling, dope-smoking student to one of the most reviled men in the country.

The hate preacher who demanded strict Sharia Law to transform the “corrupt West” was once a party-mad youngster known to university pals as Andy.

His vulgar calls for women, either Muslim or non-Muslim, to be covered up in public and for adulterers to be stoned to death are exposed as sickening hypocrisy by old friends who described him as a ruthless womaniser.

And Choudary’s twisted desire to divide Britain and fly the “flag of Allah over Downing Street” is a far cry from his former role as an assistant lawyer at the Commission for Racial Equality.

Friends who knew him in the early 1990s at Southampton University describe someone as far removed from an Islamic fundamentalist as it is possible to imagine.

While studying law there the future fanatic was pictured smoking cannabis, downing pints of cider and holding a soft porn magazine.

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A pal at the time said: “When I knew him, he liked to be called Andy, would often smoke spliffs all day, and was proud of his ability to drink a pint in a couple of seconds.

“And he was ruthless with girls. He would pull one of them every few days, sleep with her, then move on to another.”

But within just a decade, Choudary had become the face of Islamic extremism in Britain, the driving force behind an estimated 500 home-grown extremists and the inspiration for IS killers in Paris, Belgium and Syria.

Practising law had left him ‘troubled’

Married father-of-five Choudary, 49, was born in South East London to a market stall-holder of Pakistani descent.

He studied at St Bartholomew’s medical school for a year before he became “disenchanted” and switched to law.

He went to Guildford College of Law, qualified as a solicitor and opened his own practice as well as working for the Commission for Racial Equality.

It was in those years that he became increasingly religious and he told his Old Bailey trial that practising law left him “troubled”.

In the 1990s he became a disciple of Omar Bakri Mohammed’s now banned Al-Muhajiroun group, later becoming close to the hate preacher and helping him as an “assistant judge” of Sharia Law.

Choudary came to prominence in 2001 when he refused to condemn 9/11. He said: “Those individuals are Muslims, they were carrying out their Islamic responsibility.

“So, in that respect they were magnificent, and the Muslims worldwide hope they are accepted as martyrs in the eyes of God.

“You have to remember many buildings have fallen on Muslim heads over the generations. Muslims suffer a 9/11 on a daily basis in Palestine, Chechnya and Kashmir.”

As his rants became more extreme, Choudary began to love the limelight and the adulation of his growing band of followers.

In 2010 The Sun exposed him for living on benefits with his wife Rubana in Ilford, Essex, while preaching hate against the country which funded his cushy life.

Choudary’s response was not to get a job but to joke: “I’m not on Jobseeker’s Allowance. I’m on jihad seeker’s allowance.”

He called for Sharia Law to be enforced in Britain and also for Buckingham Palace to be turned into a mosque.

He said: “I want to see the flag of Allah over Downing Street. Every woman, whether Muslim or non-Muslim, would have to wear a burkha and cover everything apart from her face and hands in public. People who commit adultery would be stoned to death.”

After a homecoming parade in Luton for Royal Anglian soldiers returning from Afghanistan in 2009, he said: “They are cowards who have an uncanny knack for death by friendly fire. It is a vile parade of brutal murderers.”

And he staged demos against the wearing of poppies in 2008, saying: “This is not something we should be supporting. We are not sanctioned to support poppies by the Sharia Law.”

Choudary also accused the Queen of not washing properly and having only “two baths a year”.

His placard-waving, robed followers had been seen by some as a loud but largely harmless rabble.

But behind closed doors, under his brain-washing, damaged and dangerous men were preparing acts of terror. One was Michael Adebolajo who stood shoulder to shoulder with Choudary at several demos.

Adebolajo, together with Michael Adebowale, beheaded Fusilier Lee Rigby outside Woolwich barracks in South East London in May 2013.

Choudary failed to condemn the killing and warned of more to come. He said: “As an adult non-Muslim, whether he is part of the Army or not part of the Army, if he dies in a state of disbelief then he is going to go to the hellfire.

“Britain is going to Muslim countries and killing people. This will have repercussions in this country. Unless we wake up to this fact, there will be other Lee Rigbys.” Some wondered if the police’s failure to arrest him was because he was an MI5 agent.

He would go on and on about the fatwa and he supported calls for the book to be banned. But he would have a glass of cider in his hand when he was carrying on about it

One of Choudary's uni friends

Others speculated the security services were happy to leave him on the streets to act as a “honey-trap” to draw out previously unknown terror suspects.

But as a former qualified solicitor, Choudary was always careful to stay on the right side of the law.

A source said: “He was never directly involved in any of the terror plots at home or abroad.

“His role was to fill the heads of these men with enough propaganda and encourage them to carry out the terrorist acts themselves.”

Richard Dart was converted by Choudary himself and is now in jail for trying to train as a bomb maker in Pakistan. He had also talked about targeting the Wiltshire town of Royal Wootton Bassett, where soldiers killed in Afghanistan were repatriated.

Dart’s step-brother Rob Leech said: “The reason why he is so influential is because of his charisma.

“He is incredibly charming and he is clever and he knows how to manipulate people.

“If you are a young guy who meets him for the first time quite often you’re overawed by him. He knows exactly what you want and what your needs are, a lot of these guys have things missing from their lives and he provides them.”

Choudary’s aim, like that of IS, was to divide multi-cultural Britain.

And he was always quick to spout contempt for hardworking Brits.

He said in 2013: “You find people are working their whole life. They wake up at seven, they go to work at nine. They work for eight, nine hours a day. They come home at seven, watch EastEnders, sleep, and do that for 40 years of their life.

“That is called slavery. Basically they lose everything, commit suicide. What kind of a life is that? That is the life of kaffir.

Ironically, after more than a decade of calling for an Islamic Britain, it was the creation of IS in Syria which led to his downfall.

Finally, his more extreme supporters saw hope for an Islamic Britain and urged Choudary to support IS publicly.

Egged on by Siddarth Dhar, who became Jihadi John’s replacement as chief IS executioner, Choudary agreed to post a message of support on his website.

He insisted he was only supporting the concept of an Islamic State. But it gave prosecutors the chink in his armour they needed.

The CPS used Section 12 of the Terrorism Act 2000 to charge him not because of his beliefs in “an” Islamic state but because he had invited others to support “the” Islamic State group.

An Old Bailey jury agreed and found him guilty. He now faces up to ten years in prison.

British justice had finally shut Anjem Choudary’s mouth for good.