A mum from Herne Bay is the mastermind behind a Facebook group with around 400,000 members protesting against the planned extremist march through Wootton Bassett.

Jo Cleary, 43, from Broomfield, set up the site on Friday night after radical group Islam4UK announced plans to parade through the town with empty coffins to symbolise the Muslims 'mercilessly murdered' in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The group had 5,000 members within an hour, which had reached 400,000 by Tuesday.

Mum-of-four Jo, who runs a support group for soldiers and their families, says the response has been overwhelming.

She said: "When I set up the group I expected to get maybe one or 2,000 members having a rant about the march.

"But when there were 5,000 in the first hour. I couldn't believe it.

"Since then the numbers have been growing at an extraordinary rate. We're getting 500 posts a minute so I've had to ask friends to help me with the admin."

Last week hate preacher Anjem Choudary provoked outrage after announcing 500 hard-line members of Islam4UK would march on Wootton Bassett - a town renowned for honouring Britain's fallen troops.

Since his outburst photographer Jo has appeared on Sky News, GMTV, BBC, ITV and even CNN expressing her views about the stunt.