Security fears have been raised ahead of the planned release from prison of hate preacher Anjem Choudary and his acolytes in the coming weeks.

Choudary is due to be released from jail next month having been jailed for five and a half years in September 2016 for encouraging people to support ISIS.

The father-of-five was a founder member of the banned group al-Muhajiroun and had claimed he would be happy to see the black flag of ISIS hanging over 10 Downing Street.

Anjem Choudary, pictured, was jailed for five-and-a-half years in September 2016

Choudary, pictured centre, will be eligible for early release having served half of his jail term

When he was jailed, Mr Justice Holroyde claimed Choudary and his co-accused Mohammed Misanur Rahman had shown 'contempt for the values of the democracy in which we live'.

Choudary was found guilty of attempting to radicalise young Muslims. His supporters included Michael Adebolajo and Michael Abedowale who were convicted of the murder of Fusilier Lee Rigby.

He was also connected with suspected ISIS executioner Siddharta Dhar. In January, the US State Department designated Dhar as a terrorist. He is believed to have left the UK in late 2014 and emerged in Syria.

Ben Wallace, Security Minister told BBC News the government had measures in place to keep track of people released from prison who may still be a risk to national security.

He said: 'Terrorist offenders have a lot more supervision than normal offenders and that's because we recognise the risk and we seek to reduce it to as low as possible.'

Both Choudary and Rahman will be eligible for release next month having served half of their jail terms.