Richard Reid - Background

Background

Reid was born a British citizen in Bromley, South London, to Leslie Hughes, who was of white English descent, and Colvin Robin Reid, whose father was a Jamaican immigrant of African descent. When Reid was born, his father, a career criminal, was in jail for stealing a car. Reid left school at age 16, becoming a petty crook who was in and out of jail himself, the first time for mugging an elderly person. He began writing graffiti under the name Enrol with FRF crew, and ultimately accumulated more than 10 convictions for crimes against persons and property, serving sentences at the Feltham Young Offenders Institution and at the Blundeston Prison. According to his father, Reid became depressed and blamed racism for some of his problems. His father advised him to convert to Islam, telling him that Muslims were more egalitarian and they got better food in prison. The next time Reid was incarcerated (in 1995 for petty theft), he converted.

Upon his release from prison in 1996 he joined the Brixton Mosque. He later began attending the Finsbury Park Mosque in North London headed at that time by the anti-American cleric Abu Hamza al-Masri and described as "the heart of the extremist Islamic culture" in Britain. By 1998 Reid was voicing extremist views, and may have fallen under the sway of "terrorist talent spotters and handlers" allied with Al Qaeda.

He spent 1999 and 2000 in Pakistan and trained at a terrorist camp in Afghanistan, according to several informants. He may also have attended an anti-American religious training center in Lahore, Pakistan as a follower of Mubarak Ali Gilani. During this time he met Saajid Badat.

After his return Reid set about obtaining duplicate passports from British government consulates abroad. Reid next resided at numerous places in Europe, communicating via an address in Peshawar, Pakistan, a city known for its Al Qaeda connections. In July 2001, Reid flew to Israel, passing through the El Al airline's very tight security network, in what was possibly a test of his ability to pass through airport security screening anywhere. He then moved to Amsterdam, living there from August 2001 through November 2001, working as a dishwasher.

Reid and Badat returned to Pakistan in November 2001, and reportedly traveled overland to Afghanistan. They were given "shoe bombs", casual footwear adapted to be covertly smuggled onto aircraft before being used to destroy them. Later forensic analysis of both bombs showed that they contained the same plastic explosive and that the respective lengths of detonator cord had come from the same batch: indeed, the cut mark on Badat's cord matches exactly that on Reid's. The pair returned separately to Great Britain in early December 2001. Reid went to Belgium for 10 days before catching a train to Paris on December 16.

On December 21, 2001, Reid attempted to board a flight from Paris, France to Miami, Florida, but his boarding was delayed because his disheveled physical appearance aroused the suspicions of the airline passenger screeners. Reid also did not answer all of their questions, and had not checked any luggage for the transatlantic flight. Additional screening by the French National Police resulted in Reid's being re-issued a ticket for a flight on the following day. He returned to the Paris airport on December 22, 2001, and he boarded American Airlines Flight 63 from Paris to Miami, wearing his special shoes packed with plastic explosives in their hollowed-out bottoms.