The two ringleaders of a British al-Qaeda-style terrorist recruitment and training cell, who organised terror camps in beauty spots around the UK, were jailed today.

Mohammed Hamid - who once called himself "Osama bin London" - and Atilla Ahmet both groomed impressionable young Muslim men to fight jihad against non-believers. Among their followers were several of the failed suicide bombers who attacked the capital on July 21, 2005.

Hamid, 50, who organised brain-washing talks at his home in east London, was jailed indefinitely with a minimum term of seven-and-a-half years. Ahmet, 44, the self-styled “emir” of the gang and a former senior aide of Abu Hamza, was jailed for six years and 11 months at Woolwich Crown Court.

Mr Justice Pitchers, the trial judge, told Hamid that he will continue to be a danger to the public because of his ability to persuade others to commit terrorism.

The jury had heard how Hamid, a street preacher, aspired to send his recruits on to further training in Afghanistan or east Africa. He was found guilty of organising terrorist training in the New Forest and at a Berkshire paintballing centre, as well as soliciting murder.

Ahmet, 44, admitted three counts of soliciting murder at the start of the four-month trial. He was secretly recorded encouraging other young Muslim men to kill in the name of Islam.

The jury heard that several of the July 21 bombers, including the ringleader Muktar Said Ibrahim, were among Hamid’s followers. Hamid boasted that the July 7 attacks were “not even breakfast for me” and hours afterwards sent a text message to his friend, the July 21 conspirator Hussain Osman.

Hamid organised camping and paintballing at sites in the Lake District, New Forest, Berkshire, Kent and East Sussex. These were combined with incendiary weekly talks at Hamid’s East London council home, where he sowed the seeds of hate among his followers.

Detectives pored over hundreds of hours of recordings after MI5 planted a bug at Hamid’s home in late 2005. Later a police agent also infiltrated the group.

Ahmet was a regular visitor to the Friday evening meetings at Hamid’s home and often led the bigoted discussions. He honed his rhetorical skills at the side of Abu Hamza at Finsbury Park Mosque, even taking control of his notorious Supporters of Sharia group in 2004.

It was during these conversations that the pair encouraged others to murder those who do not implement the “law of Allah”.

During one chilling conversation at a camp in East Sussex, Hamid was confronted by Ahmet, who realised the police net was closing in and was considering becoming a suicide bomber.

Hamid counselled his friend that he should die only after using his “intelligence” and first murder as many others as possible.

After asking how many people died in London on July 7, Hamid replied in a low whisper: “52. That’s not even breakfast for me. That’s not even breakfast for me in this country, do you understand me? Now, at the same time, how I look at it, I would take my breakfast and still be with my children and my wife and I’ll be looking after them. Remember Jack the Ripper.”

It was during this camp that Ahmet was caught on tape singing an inflammatory song to the tune of the calypso-style Banana Boat song. The lyrics included: “Come mister Taliban, come implement Sharia... Come bomb England, before the daylight come.”

Hamid once boasted to police that his name was Osama bin London and claimed to have a bomb after he was arrested with Ibrahim in Oxford Street in 2004.

On another occasion, while driving past Paddington Green police station, he screamed out: “Here is your terrorist. I’m here, come and get me.”

One senior police source said that officers would never know whether Hamid and Ahmet intended their followers to attack targets in the UK or overseas.

He said: “They were certainly doing paramilitary training for terrorism. Whether that was to be terrorism overseas or at home, I do not know. But five of the people convicted of the July 21 attacks attended these camps. We could not rule out the possibility that these people would go on to commit terrorism here.”

Five of their followers were jailed for up to four years 11 months last month. Kibley da Costa, 25, Mohammed Al-Figari, 45, and Kader Ahmed, 20, were found guilty of attending terrorist training camps.

Two other members of the gang, Mohammed Kyriacou, 19, and Yassin Mutegombwa, 23, admitted attending the camps after a separate hearing.

Hamid, of Hackney, East London, was found guilty of various charges of providing terrorist training in the New Forest and a Berkshire paintballing centre in 2006. He was also found guilty of three counts of soliciting murder during conversations at his home and during a camping expedition to an Islamic school in East Sussex.

Ahmet, who has homes in Bromley and Hither Green, South East London, admitted three counts of soliciting murder.

Explore UK News

• Crime News

• Education News

• Health News

• Science News

• Scotland News

Times Recommends

• Sarah Brown says 'no thanks' to veal at G8 - twice
• Stockton-on-Tees is obesity capital of Britain
• Stores blame poor sales on Murray factor