SENTENCING failed terror suspect Nicky Reilly yesterday at the Old Bailey, Mr Justice Calvert-Smith said: "The offence of attempted murder is aggravated by the fact that it was long-planned, that it had multiple intended victims and was intended to terrorise the population of this country.

"It was sheer luck or chance that it did not succeed in its objectives."

The judge added: "There is no dispute but that this defendant currently represents a significant risk of serious harm to the public.''

He accepted the attack was "an unsophisticated attempt to kill".

Reilly had appeared to be a likeable and law-abiding person and had no previous criminal convictions, the court was told.

But the judge said: "This sort of crime, albeit thankfully extremely rare in this country, has in the main been committed by people who were not apparently in other respects criminally-minded, but they were pursuing, as you were, what they believed to be a religious agenda."

The sentencing hearing was briefly adjourned as Reilly's mother Kim broke down in tears in the public gallery.

Afterwards, she sat weeping on a bench in a courtyard behind the Old Bailey and left without commenting. The court was told that she had first taken her son to see a psychiatrist at the age of nine, reporting obsessive behaviour and temper tantrums.

He felt rejected by his father and later began to self-harm, taking an overdose at the age of 16.

Reilly was briefly admitted to hospital after an incident when he stabbed himself in the leg.

He was described as a "vulnerable individual".

The court was told that he struggled to make friends and had a low IQ of 83.

Later, when he began to express sympathy with terrorism and in particular the 9/11 bombers, his mother did not take him seriously, the court was told.