Details have emerged of the man behind the hostage taking at the kosher supermarket in the east of Paris and the suspected killer of a French policewoman.

Amedy Coulibaly aged 32 and his 26-year-old partner Hayet Boumeddine, currently sought by French police, have shared a house since 2010.

Coulibaly became involved in crime while a teenager receiving a number of convictions for armed robbery from 2001.

It is thought he met the younger Kouachi brother, Cherif in 2005 while both were serving sentences in the notorious French prison Fleury-Mérogis.

It was while in jail that Coulibaly converted to Islam and became radicalised.

He was arrested by anti-terrorist officers in 2010 suspected of having played a role in an escape plot to free the bomber of the Paris metro Smaïn Aït Ali Belkacem.

It is claimed that Coulibaly and Cherif Kouachi were disciples of Djamel Beghal, a radical figure convicted of a planned terrorist attack in Paris.

Coulibaly was released from jail just