UK: Terror suspect admits plane plot

Shoe bomber Richard Reid's accomplice. More evidence that the hatred and jihad preached at the Finsbury Park Mosque bore bitter fruit, and more may be yet to come. Note also (thanks to Carol) that in its lead paragraph the BBC still refers to Badat as a "suspect," despite his guilty plea. From the BBC, with thanks to Nicolei:

British terror suspect Saajid Badat plotted to blow up an aeroplane on its way to the US using a "shoe bomb".

Badat, 25, of St James Street, Gloucester, conspired with fellow Briton Richard Reid and a Belgian terrorist to make the bomb.

He trained as a suicide bomber but later backed out of the plot. Badat will be sentenced on 18 March.

On Monday at the Old Bailey, he pleaded guilty to conspiring to place a device on an aircraft in service.

More than 100 homes in the city were evacuated during a police search of Badat's house in November 2003, the court was told.

The court heard he had agreed to be a suicide bomber with the intention of destroying a passenger aircraft while it was in the air en route from Europe to the United States.

Plastic explosive

He received training both in Afghanistan and Pakistan and had been given an explosive device designed to evade airport security and destroy an aircraft in flight, said Richard Horwell, prosecuting.