Three members of a vigilante group who called themselves the Muslim Patrol have been jailed.

The men pleaded guilty to offences after threatening, assaulting or abusing members of public between December 2012 and January this year in Tower Hamlets.

Jordan Horner, 20, of Radbourne Crescent in Walthamstow was sentenced to 17 months imprisonment after pleading guilty to two counts of assault and two counts of using threatening words and behaviour.

Ricardo MacFarlane, 36, of Boyden House, Walthamstow received 12 months in custody after pleading guilty to affray.

A 22-year-old man who cannot be named for legal reasons was sentenced to 24 weeks in prison for two counts of using threatening words and behaviour.

Sentencing the men at the Old Bailey, Judge Rebecca Poulet said: “The good thing about Great Britain is the tolerance and respect shown to other individuals.

"Islam is a peaceful religion but this conduct was anything but that.”

Dilowar Khan,director of the London Muslim Centre, said: "Hate has no place on the streets of Tower Hamlets, or any other street in Britain.

“Those who seek to impose their narrow views on others, those who in fact do not even know the religion they claim to be championing, should be ashamed of their actions.”

"Bullying is un-Islamic and will do nothing to help the lives of many millions of ordinary Muslims whose name is tarnished, time and again, by the pathetic actions of a few."