13 years for shoebomb plotter who didn't board jet

Badat, 25, entered a guilty plea in February - admitting he had conspired with Reid to blow up planes in simultaneous attacks.

It is the first major conviction for a terrorist plot in Britain since the 11 September, 2001, attacks in the United States.

Reid failed in his bid to blow up an American Airlines’ plane flying from Paris to Miami on 22 December, 2001, after passengers and crew overpowered him as he tried to ignite explosives in his shoe. He was sentenced to life imprisonment by a US court in January 2003.

Badat confessed to an identical plan. He bought a ticket to fly from Manchester to Amsterdam on 17 December, 2001, and then on to the US, but changed his mind about taking the flight and dismantled his device. Badat returned to live in Britain where he became an Imam and a Muslim preacher.

Judge Adrian Fulford said he was being lenient because Badat had "a genuine change of heart", abandoning plans for the attack and pleading guilty.

The judge condemned the plot as "truly appalling" adding: "There are few more serious crimes than what you were planning. It intended to shock the lives of thousands of friends and relatives of the loved ones who would have been devastated by it."

Justice Fulford said he hoped the sentence would send a message to others considering terrorism that a decision to turn away from violence would benefit them in court.

The court had heard how Badat left home aged 19 and went to live in London, working as a kitchen porter and security guard before travelling to Afghanistan to train in a terror camp. Over the next few years, he travelled between Pakistan, Europe, Saudi Arabia and Afghanistan on three British passports, pretending the legitimate one was stolen. He also used forged entry and exit visas - made by the same stamp that appeared on Reid’s passports.

Throughout 2001, Reid and Badat’s travel plans were remarkably similar and by 11 September, 2001, both were staying in Amsterdam, prosecutor Richard Horwell said.

Badat and Reid then returned to Afghanistan and were persuaded by a Taliban sympathiser to take part in the plot. They carried the explosive equipment with them throughout the following three months.

But by early December, Badat began to have doubts about the plot, and started sending a series of e-mails to his handlers warning them Reid would be "on his own".

Badat returned to Britain, got rid of the shoe that was to house the bomb and dismantled the explosives, but kept them in two suitcases in his bedroom.

London’s Old Bailey court heard at the hearing in February that Badat had been given an explosive device in Afghanistan that had a detonating cord that matched Reid’s.

Badat, from Gloucester, was arrested in November 2003. At his home, police found a bomb which he had made safe by separating the detonator and fuse from the plastic explosive, which had been designed to evade airport security.

Mr Horwell said that both bombs were "identical" in design and would have "been sufficient to make a hole through the fuselage of a passenger jet".

Describing the plot, Mr Horwell said: "Following the terrorist training that Reid and Badat had received, the final plans by them must have been made.

"They left Pakistan within days and had the aim of carrying out simultaneous attacks on passenger aircraft flying from Europe to the US. The plot was to cause explosions in two passenger aircraft when they were in flight over the Atlantic.

"The evidence also discloses that Badat must have withdrawn from this plot but Reid did not and it was only good fortune that prevented him from achieving his terrible objective."

When police arrested Badat, he told them exactly where all the explosives were kept.

Badat’s counsel, Michael Mansfield, QC, said his client was devout, but had his "sincere" beliefs "manipulated".

Mr Mansfield said when Badat was a teenager he felt increasingly concerned for the plight of Muslims being persecuted around the world, and wanted to fight their cause. But by 2001, he said Badat became caught up in the "cauldron of concern and activity" in Afghanistan and faced a "moral dilemma" fighting for his Muslim brothers. He said Badat was persuaded to take part also because he had no money, but added that his client was now filled with remorse and wanted to warn-off potential terrorists. "He sees there can never be any justification in jeopardising the lives of innocent civilians for this kind of terrorist activity," said Mr Mansfield.

Deputy Assistant Commissioner Peter Clarke, head of the Anti-Terrorist Branch, said: "This is a very important conviction and is the culmination of a painstaking investigation lasting three years. It is a tremendous example of cooperation between international agencies and those in the UK."

AL-QAEDA SUSPECTS GO ON TRIAL IN SPAIN

TWENTY-FOUR al-Qaeda suspects - including three men accused of helping an 11 September suicide pilot - went on trial in Spain yesterday.

Syrian-born Imad Yarkas, a 42-year-old father of six, is alleged to have overseen a terrorist cell that provided logistical cover for 11 September terrorists including Mohamed Atta, thought to have flown one of the two hijacked planes that destroyed the World Trade Centre in New York in 2001.

Prosecutors are seeking prison terms of nearly 75,000 years each for him and two other key suspects accused of helping plan the attacks, although, under Spanish law, the maximum time they can serve for a terrorism conviction would be 40 years.

Twenty-one others face charges of terrorism, illegal weapons possession and other offences.

Their trial opened yesterday in a cramped, bulletproof chamber in a makeshift courtroom.

The case began with the lone native-born Spaniard among the defendants saying he neither supported nor opposed Osama bin Laden, but rejected all forms of terrorism.

Luis Jose Galan, 39, said: "Muslims are not terrorists. All we want is to live in peace."

Galan, who is among the 21 who face charges not related to 11 September, is accused of weapons possession and belonging to al-Qaeda. Most of the rest of the defendants are of Syrian or Moroccan origin.