A British-born Muslim admitted yesterday conspiring to blow up a passenger aircraft at the same time as Richard Reid, the shoe bomber, tried to bring down an American Airlines flight.
Saajid Badat, 25, who trained in Pakistan and Afghanistan, pleaded guilty at the Old Bailey after being linked to an al-Qa'eda plot.
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Deputy Assistant Commissioner Peter Clarke, the head of Scotland Yard's anti-terrorist branch, said: "Three years of intensive and painstaking international investigation brought us to the point where Badat had no option but to plead guilty to this horrendous offence.
"His conviction demonstrates the reality of the threat we are facing.
"Badat had agreed to blow up a passenger aircraft from Europe to the United States and was prepared to kill himself and hundreds of innocent people.
"We must ask how a young British man was transformed from an intelligent, articulate person who was well respected, into a person who has pleaded guilty to one of the most serious crimes that you can think of."
Badat, born in Gloucester to a devout Muslim family and educated at a grammar school in the city, had been due to go on trial later this month. But at a 15-minute court appearance yesterday he admitted conspiring to blow up an aircraft between January 1999 and November 2003.
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He was given the explosive device, which fitted into the heel of a shoe and was designed to evade airport security, in Afghanistan and brought it back to Britain in December 2001.
It was identical to the one used by Reid when he tried to blow up a Paris-Miami flight in the same month.
"It is clear the plan was that Reid and Badat would bring down a passenger aircraft at similar times," said Richard Horwell, prosecuting.
But four days after his return, Badat sent an e-mail to his handlers "indicating he might withdraw".
"He had booked a ticket to fly from Manchester to Amsterdam in preparation for an onward flight to the United States on which the explosive device would be initiated. But he did not take that flight.
"We accept by then he had withdrawn from the conspiracy which he had been party to for an appreciable period of time."
Badat separated the fuse and detonator from the plastic explosive and kept them at his home in Gloucester, where they were found by police in November 2003.
On the way to the police station Badat admitted he had been asked to carry out a shoe bombing like Reid.
He was linked to Reid by Belgian phone cards. They were found on Reid and had been used by Badat to speak to Nizar Trabelsi, Reid's terrorist contact who is in jail in Belgium for planning an attack on a US base there.
There was also scientific evidence linking the device found at Badat's home to the one used by Reid.
Reid, a petty criminal from south London who converted to Islam while in Feltham Young Offenders' Institution, was jailed for life in America two years ago after admitting attempting to blow up a flight carrying almost 200 people.
He boasted of being a follower of Osama bin Laden.
Badat will be sentenced on March 18, when the prosecution will give full details of the case against him.
Mr Horwell said there was little difference between prosecution and defence except for the timing of Badat's withdrawal from the plot.
Joel Bennathan, for Badat, said it was agreed that he had decided not to go through with the bombing.
The Muslim Council of Britain said it appeared to be the first clear-cut case of a British Muslim being involved in a terror plot in this country.
A spokesman said: "It is shocking news. Badat can expect no sympathy from British Muslims.
"He pleaded guilty to involvement in a terror plot targeting innocents. If he had succeeded this would have been a ghastly crime.
"He should be treated as any criminal who commits this kind of heinous crime."