Recent news that hate preacher Anjem Choudary is to be sentenced for his role in inciting individuals to join the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil) is a milestone in British legal history. But both the government and media need to accept their own tawdry roles in the making of Choudary, who ultimately became a hit on CNN and Fox after the BBC gave him unlimited live airtime for him to preach extremism, leading to the death of many, including Private Lee Rigby.

To understand fully, you have to go back at least 10 years to a period in British politics where Charles Clarke was Home Secretary and when Choudary’s spiritual leader and mentor – Omar Bakri – found to his amazement that their double act immediately gave them the much desired fame when Bakri called the London Bombers the “fantastic four”.

From that moment, the Syrian born preacher – whom I have interviewed in his home and who is now in a Lebanese high security prison – became iconic with a tiny cadre of misguided young men. Even six years before the Syrian civil war started, this group was inspired by the British extremist Islamic movement that both men ran – one in hiding in Tripoli whilst the other lived off benefit in the UK s to the tune of 25,000 pounds a year.