Muslim ‘battered boy for cuddling girlfriend’

A MUSLIM “bully” jumped out of his car and knocked out a teenager who was hugging his girlfriend in the street, a court heard yesterday.

Michael Coe, 35, allegedly attacked the 16-year-old and then threw a passing teacher to the ground when he intervened.

The court heard that Coe, an Islamic convert, spotted the cuddling couple in east London.

He asked if they were Muslims before calling the girl, also 16, a “whore” and grabbing the boy around the neck.

Jonathan Polnay, prosecuting at Southwark Crown Court, said the incident started as unpleasant bullying with religious overtones.

He added: “It was followed by an attack by this 35-year-old man on a schoolboy followed by a further assault on a teacher, a bystander, who went to his aid when he saw what was going on.”

The boy and his girlfriend, both Muslims, were on the pavement when Coe pulled up in his car near Upton Park.

Coe allegedly demanded that the boy let go of the girl and insulted her, the court heard. Coe then grabbed him by the neck and “smashed” his head against a wall. The boy, who cannot be named because of his age, said: “While I was on the floor he booted my head. I woke up with blood on my hands and I could feel blood down my face.

“My head was throbbing and I felt very dizzy and also felt sick.”

His girlfriend said she was screaming and crying when she saw her boyfriend unconscious on the ground and being kicked.

Coe, of Greenwich, south-east London, denies assault and battery, claiming to have acted in self-defence.

The trial continues.