Judge Timothy Spencer QC told 21-year-old Ben John to swap his extremist literature for the works of Jane Austen and William Shakespeare.

The former student will return to the court in Leicester every four months to be tested by the judge on his reading, Lincolnshire Live reports.

Judge Spencer told him: “Start with Pride and Prejudice and Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities. Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night. Think about Hardy. Think about Trollope.

“On January 4 you will tell me what you have read and I will test you on it. I will test you and if I think you are [lying to] me you will suffer.”

He added: “I will be watching you, Ben John, every step of the way. If you let me down you know what will happen.”

Mr John was given a two-year jail sentence suspended for two years plus a further year on license.