An alleged Islamic extremist who said non-Muslim Britons were dirty and unclean has been banned from attending prayer meetings in Sutton.

Abdul Lateef has been barred from meetings of the Muslim Cultural and Welfare Association of Sutton (MCWAS) after he was accused of using them to stir up religious hatred.

He is also to be interrogated by Sutton Council who rent buildings to MWCAS and another local muslim group - Companions of the Mosque - in which Mr Lateef plays a key role.

The moves to clamp down on Mr Lateef came after the Daily Mail newspaper said it had monitored MCWAS prayer meetings at the youth centre sports hall in Robin Hood Lane.

According to a report in the Daily Mail last Saturday, he addressed a crowd of 100 at the meetings where he said Tony Blair was a murderer and every British soldier in Iraq should be killed.

He is also alleged to have said the London bombings in July 2005 were orchestrated by the Government, and non-muslims in Britain "never wash their hands and become ill because of their own sexual promiscuity".

Secretary of MCWAS, Lal Hussain, said Mr Lateef - who claims he was quoted out of context - had been told not to attend future meetings.

Deputy leader of the Conservative group, councillor Peter Geiringer, said: "I have no reason to disbelieve it. What on earth is going on and why hasn't anything come to light on it up to now? To be honest, I'm absolutely horrified this is happening right under our noses and one of my questions is how come the police have been unaware of this?

"I thought they were taking a very strong line on religious intolerance and I'd like to know what Sutton police were doing.

"We have many good muslims living in the borough. Why haven't they stamped down on this and stopped it? It's not the sort of thing you expect in a place such as Sutton."

The MCWAS prayer meetings take place in the youth centre sports hall in Robin Hood Lane which is rented to the group by Sutton Council.

The council also rents the property to Companions of the Mosque for arabic lessons conducted by Mr Lateef, and rents The Quad in Carshalton to the group for meetings at which Mr Lateef has spoken.

The organisation says one of its aims is to "educate and encourage non-Muslims to learn all about Islam so that we can live together in harmony".

Among the weekly activities it holds in the borough are arabic lessons, a coffee morning, the Friday circle' and five-a-side football.

Ruth Dombey, lead councillor for community engagement, said the council would be calling Mr Lateef and other representatives of Companions of the Mosque to an investigatory meeting.

She added: "We are taking these allegations very seriously. They are allegations at the moment. We need to find out whether they are correct.

"We are going to be asking them very detailed questions to find out what actually happened. If we are not happy with the results of the meeting, then we will take immediate action, but I think everyone has a chance to defend themselves."

Speaking to the Sutton Guardian, Mr Lateef said the comments attributed to him had been taken out of context and he was considering legal action against the Daily Mail.

He added: "The whole purpose of Companions of the Mosque is to bring harmony between people. In my arabic class we have muslims and non-muslims. I even have an old Jewish lady.

"Somebody is trying to do a smear campaign against me."

Sutton police said no criminal allegations or evidence had been put forward about Mr Lateef.