A British-born student found guilty of terrorist offences may have been planning to take part in al-Qaeda-inspired attacks in Canada, including an alleged plot to storm the Parliament and behead the Prime Minister, security sources said yesterday.

The claims emerged after Atif Siddique, 21, a loner who bragged about wanting to be a suicide bomber, was convicted of collecting and distributing terrorist propaganda and setting up websites showing how to make weapons and explosives. He faces up to 15 years in jail.

Siddique, from Alva in Clackmannanshire, is the first home-grown Islamist terrorist to be convicted in Scotland, less than three months after two alleged suicide bombers attempted to blow up Glasgow airport.

The verdict follows a three-and-a-half-week trial at the High Court in Glasgow, during which Siddique was called a “wannabe suicide bomber”.

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Hidden among clothing were goods selected and purchased to support the activities of terrorists, a court was told

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He was detained at Glasgow airport on April 5 last year on his way to Pakistan with his uncle.

His laptop was seized and he was questioned for five hours before being released. Eight days later he was arrested when police swooped on his home.

Jacqui Smith, the Home Secretary, described yesterday’s verdict as “a reminder that the threat we face from terrorism is real and not isolated to any particular region”.

However, Siddique’s solicitor, Aamer Anwar, said: “The prosecution was driven by the State, with no limit to the money and resources used to secure a conviction in this case, carried out in an atmosphere of hostility after the Glasgow airport attack and ending on the anniversary of 9/11.” Security sources said yesterday that Siddique would have gone “off the radar” had he been allowed to travel to Pakistan, and suggested that he may have been preparing to join Islamist extremists in Canada.

They believe that Siddique was radicalised over the internet by a man from the North of England who was also in touch with alleged would-be suicide bombers in Ontario.

Seventeen terrorist suspects were arrested in Canada in June last year. They have been accused of obtaining ammonium nitrate to make bombs and with plotting a raid on the Canadian Parliament during which they hoped to take hostages and demand that Ottawa withdraw its 2,300 troops from Afghanistan.

If their demands were not met, it is alleged, they planned to behead Stephen Harper, the Prime Minister, and bomb public buildings.

They face charges of belonging to a terrorist group and attending terrorist training camps.

Siddique, who was teased by his elder brother for watching Tom and Jerry cartoons, had denied three charges under the Terrorism Act 2000, one under the Terrorism Act 2006, and a breach of the peace charge. He was accused of possessing CDs and videos on bomb-making; setting up websites with links to terrorist publications; and causing a breach of the peace at Glasgow Metropolitan College, where he was studying for an HND in information technology, by threatening to “blow up” Glasgow.

He was further accused of showing classmates images of suicide bombings and beheadings. The alleged offences were carried out between March 1,2003, and April 13, 2006. The High Court was told that a computer disk found hidden under a carpet at Siddique’s home contained footage of Islamist extremists looting the body of a dead US serviceman.

Judge Lord Carloway told Siddique, who does not have a criminal record, that he was considering imposing an extended sentence of up to 15 years, plus a term on licence. He will be sentenced next month.

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