A MUSLIM man has been jailed for life for plotting to cause mass murder.

Adam Khatib, of Wellington Road, Walthamstow, was found guilty of being part of a terrorist cell led by Abdullah Ahmed Ali, also from Walthamstow, which planned to blow up transatlantic passenger planes using bombs disguised as soft drinks.

Khatib admitted visiting a flat in Forest Road which had been turned into a bomb factory and travelling to Pakistan with Ali, but insisted he was not part of the conspiracy.

But last Wednesday a jury at Woolwich Crown Court convicted him of conspiracy to murder by a majority of 11 to one.

Co-defendant Nabeel Hussain, 25, of Chingford, was jailed for eight years after being found guilty of preparing terrorist acts by meeting Ali twice in July 2006 and possessing materials, namely a will, mobile phones and a £25,000 loan apllication, for use in terrorism.

Khatib told the court he was a rebel at school and had written an essay about joining al-Qaeda because he liked to push the boundaries.

He denied that hydrogen peroxide seized at his home was for making bombs, insisting it was for treating cuts on his hands suffered while working at blade distribution company Pema Rules, in Leyton.

Third co-defendant, Mohammed Shamin Uddin, 39, of Stoke Newington, was jailed for 15 months for one count of possessing materials, namely a CD, likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism.

Abdulla Ahmed Ali, 29, of Walthamstow, Tanvir Hussain, 28, of Leyton, and Assad Sarwar, 29, of High Wycombe will serve minimum terms of between 32 and 40 years after being found guilty of conspiracy to murder in September.

Umar Islam, 31, also of High Wycombe, was also convicted of conspiring to murder and will spend at least 22 years behind bars.