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Andrew Littlefair, who faces a minimum of 12 months imprisonment for a chilling Islamophobic rant posted onto his Facebook page, dismissed his views as a mere "drunken rant".

"'Give me bullets for my gun - I'll shoot every b* one," he wrote on Facebook.

"It's time to unite and fight wipe out this disgusting disease they call Islam," he wrote. "My grandad didn't fight an[d] die for this!!"

But standing in court, the 50-year-old admitted six counts of publishing threatening religious material with the intention to stir up religious hatred. He also noted he fears for his life after his comments went public.

"I live around a lot of Muslim people and I have Muslim friends who know I'm not racist, but it is the people who are not my friends that worry me," he said. "I'm worried this being out there is putting me at risk."

"It was a stupid, drunken rant which I did after seeing pictures of all those bairns [children] after the bombings," he said. "Yes I had a few drinks on the night before and I'd opened a can that morning."

"But to say I want to kill Muslims - I mean, I couldn't hurt a fly," he added. "And I know I shouldn't have said Muslims - I should have said Isis.[They] are not people, they are brainwashing people."

Last year, Britain suffered five terror attacks - including in London and another at a pop concert in Manchester - in which killed 36 people and injured more than 200 others in total. Four of the attakcs were claimed by the Islamic State group.

Three of the perpetrators were known to security services, according to an internal review which said opportunities to stop the Manchester Arena bombing attack were missed by security services.

In December, London Metropolitan Police said there were 500 counter-terrorism investigations involving 3,000 people, noting more than 20,000 others have been investigated in the past.