Dhiren Barot's conversion to Islam began as a revolt against his strict father but it brought him under the corrupting influence of the extremist cleric Abu Hamza al-Masri.

The young convert, brought up in a Hindu family in Kingsbury, northwest London, met Abu Hamza soon after the firebrand preacher returned to Britain from Afghanistan, where he had lost both his arms and an eye while mixing explosives. It was 1994, long before the cleric achieved worldwide notoriety as the imam of Finsbury Park mosque.

Abu Hamza was preaching violent jihad to audiences of young Muslims in mosques and community halls in London, Luton and other parts of Britain. A former friend of Barot has told police that they attended one of Abu Hamza’s lectures together and were captivated by his rhetoric.

The man, who can be identified only as FC, described the meetings they attended as “semi-extreme and more radical”. FC recalled hearing for the first time about the Mujahidin, the fighting in Chechnya and Kashmir and the use of the word “kuffar” to describe non-Muslims.

In October 1995, Barot and FC flew together to Karachi. They travelled to Islamabad and then to the mountainous region of Kotti, Kashmir, where they were trained in the use of firearms and explosives.

Barot made handwritten notes about his training in Pakistan and about a later more intensive course in the Philippines, which were found after his arrest in August 2004.

Also among the possessions recovered by police were books by Sheikh Abdullah al-Faisal, another radical cleric who, like Abu Hamza, has been jailed in Britain for inciting murder and racial hatred.

Barot is known to have attended public meetings at Willesden Library, where Faisal, a Jamaican convert to Islam, delivered his ferocious sermons, including exhortations to kill Hindus, Jews and other non-Muslims.

Explore UK News

• Crime News

• Education News

• Health News

• Scotland News

Times Recommends

• How I lost the gift of joy for a while
• Why Ann Widdecombe has got it wrong
• Alas, it’s the end of the road for petrolheads