A former British boxing champion has been cleared of encouraging terrorism in a YouTube rant against Starbucks, Coca-Cola and McDonald's.

Muslim convert Anthony Small, 36, had denied anyone would be moved to commit acts of terror by his "light-hearted poetry" published on September 12 2016.

A jury at the Old Bailey deliberated over three days to find the former professional boxer not guilty of the terrorism charge.

Jurors had viewed a seven-and-a-half-minute video in which Small talked about the influence of America and Israel in the world.

He spoke of military and commercial influence through "McDonald's and Cola-Cola signs" and former aerospace manufacturer McDonnell Douglas.

He said the choice was to "either accept the flame-grilled burger or we are going to flame-grill you from the sky".

The defendant spoke about seeing the White House and 10 Downing Street being conquered.

He concluded: "I am not calling for you to boycott Starbucks or McDonald's; instead buy Israeli-made Desert Eagles (a type of gun), cock them back and let them go in the sons of monkeys' peoples.

"In matter of fact, hijack an American-made Humvee and stick a black flag over the USA eagle."

He said at the end: "Disclaimer, in no way, shape or form am I calling for any violence, any terrorism, any killings or for anyone to buy any weapons of any sort to do any harm to anyone.

"This is a little light-hearted poetry."

Small refused to answer questions in interview, but in a prepared statement he again described his words as "poetry", adding: "I believe that, when taken in its proper context, what I said was entirely within the bounds of lawful free speech."

David Emanuel, defending, likened his video to Conservative Party activists in the 1980s creating a poster calling for Nelson Mandela to be hanged.

Mr Emmanuel said: "(These activists) weren't terrorists - they weren't advocating that a noose be placed around Mandela's neck, killing him.

"They were angry at what he represented - it was probably designed to be clever. It was rhetoric. It wasn't meant to be taken literally - 'hang the idea of anti-apartheid'.

"Anthony Small's post wasn't supposed to be taken seriously. It was rhetoric."

Small, of south-east London, is a former British and Commonwealth champion, who also found fame in the 2016 BBC Two programme Muslims Like Us.