Omar Khyam, a promising schoolboy cricketer, was only 17 when he became fired up by extremists at his local mosque in suburban Crawley.

The teenager fervently embraced the call to arms, abandoning his A-levels for a terrorist training camp in Pakistan. He was forced home by his family but his zeal only grew.

Three years later he flew back to Pakistan, trained alongside the ringleader of the July 7 bombers and plotted his own terrorist attack on Britain.

Khyam and associates had by then outstripped al-Muhajiroun, which was led by the now-exiled cleric, Sheikh Omar Bakri Mohammed, deriding it for being “all talk”.

The radical extremist group had targeted worshippers at Langley Green mosque in Crawley in the late 1990s. Prophetic fears about the corruption of their son, and countless others in Crawley, were voiced by Khyam’s family and published by The Times in January 2000. Khyam’s uncle, Sajjad Ahmed, said: “He and boys like him are being given a rifle and told martyrdom is a good thing and sent on a suicide mission to places like Kashmir.”

Khyam’s hatred for the West is at odds with his family background. His grandfather was a colonel in the British Army during the Second World War, and many other relatives went on to join the military or intelligence services (ISI). Khyam’s parents deliberately sent him to a predominantly white secondary school, where he became captain of the cricket team.His parents divorced when he was ten and his father, who owns a textile factory in Pakistan, moved to Belgium.

At the age of 16, he became increasingly devout and also started attending al-Muhajiroun meetings.Young recruits were shown graphic videos of atrocities against Muslims in Chechnya. Khyam was increasingly passionate about the plight of Muslims in Kashmir.

During a family holiday in Pakistan in 1999, he met the leaders of organisations fighting in the stricken region.

A year later he flew back to Islamabad, using money tricked from his mother by pretending he was going on a college trip to France. Instead Khyam attended his first training camp, in the mountains, learning to fire machine guns, rocket-propelled grenades and sniper rifles. He spent the summer of 2001 back in Pakistan, visiting a Kashmiri fighting organisation and discovering fertiliser in their armoury, before crossing into Afghanistan to meet Taleban leaders.

Khyam was instrumental in organising a training camp, attended by some of the defendants, in 2003. One of the 7/7 bombers, Mohammed Sidique Khan, also trained there.

Khan and Khyam intended to fly back to Pakistan together in April 2004 but, days before, Khyam and some of his associates were arrested. Khan was not among them.

In court

Waheed Mahmood, 35, from Crawley. Commanded respect because had fought jihad in Afghanistan and written book about Islam. Owned home in Pakistan. Defiant throughout the trial. Married father of four who applied for a job at National Grid Transco the day after the purchase of the fertiliser

Salahuddin Amin, 32, from Luton. Lived in Pakistan at key times. Vital connection with al-Qaeda figures, acted as intermediary for Khyam. Sourced detonators and provided fertiliser bomb formula. Quietly spoken. Worked as a taxi driver in Luton but moved to Pakistan in 2001 after defrauding British banks to fund terrorism. Held by Pakistani secret services for ten months. Arrested on return to Britain in February 2005

Jawad Akbar, 23, from Crawley. Held extreme ideology but deferred to Khyam. Stored materials later seized by police and used as evidence. Remembered by one former school friend as: “A shy guy who likes a laugh, a gentle person.” Achieved four grade As at A level. Described as resourceful, intelligent and disturbingly devious

Anthony Garcia, 25, from Ilford. Bought the fertiliser, organised its storage. Adopted multiple identities. Described himself as a “superstar” in his diary. Failed most of his GCSEs and worked briefly as a security guard

Omar Khyam, 25, the ringleader

Shujah Mahmood, 20, (cleared) Khyam’s younger brother, also from Crawley. Made little contribution to conversations taped by MI5. Aged 16 when conspiracy began. Sent to stay with Khyam in Pakistan in 2003

Nabeel Hussain, 22, (cleared) from Horley. Student involved through distant family connection with Akbar. Bank account used to pay for fertiliser storage, but he thought it was sand and was unaware of its intended purpose

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