A SCHEME trying to turn people like Exeter nail bomber Nicky Reilly away from extremist violence is being piloted by the Government.

The Channel Project trials – part of the CONTEST counter-terrorism strategy – were already under way when Reilly tried to martyr himself in the Giraffe restaurant in Exeter in May.

Muslim convert Reilly, who has changed his name to Mohammad Rashid Saeed Alim, pleaded guilty to preparing a terrorist attack and attempted murder at the Old Bailey on Wednesday.

He was the only person hurt when his homemade bombs filled with nails exploded in his face before he could leave the toilets of the restaurant.

A suicide note left at his home in King Street, Plymouth, paid tribute to "Sheikh Osama" (Bin Laden) and demanded that the British and American Governments leave Muslim countries. He also copied Bin Laden's quote: "We love death as you love life."

The three-year Channel Project is now running in Preston, Lancashire, and Lambeth in London, and is due to be expanded to eight other areas later this year.

It is designed to bring together agencies, including the police, local authority and schools, to share information on individuals whose behaviour has raised concerns.

If appropriate, an intervention strategy – to try to divert them from extremism – would then be developed. It is expected to draw on experiences from the Nicky Reilly case.

He first came to the attention of the security services five years before his failed attack on Exeter after stating: "I want to be a terrorist," aged 17.

An initial investigation into his background didn't warrant further inquiries or justify surveillance or monitoring his Internet use, e-mails or phone calls.

The Home Office is funding the project, which has been compared to the management of sex offenders, with £1 million this year.

A Home Office spokesman said: "We are committed to stopping people becoming or supporting terrorists or violent extremists.

"The aim of the Channel Project is to directly support vulnerable people by intervening when families, communities and networks raise concerns about their behaviour.

"This builds on experience and success gained from other crime prevention initiatives in the UK and overseas to divert individuals from engaging in violent extremist behaviour."

Britain's security services are said to be increasingly concerned by the prospect of "lone wolf" attacks like Reilly's because they are less likely to be detected in advance.

Reilly, who has learning difficulties, was encouraged to carry out the attacks by two Internet contacts, reportedly in Pakistan, made through his user page on the video-sharing website, YouTube. His "favourites" include several videos of the Al Qaida attack on September 11, ambushes in Iraq and bomb-making.

The Old Bailey heard how Reilly had considered attacking several targets in Plymouth, including Devonport dockyard, Charles Cross police station and the Drake Circus shopping complex.

Mr Justice Calvert-Smith described how Reilly began to plan for the attack.

"During the early months of 2008, he was in frequent touch with apparently two other people, as yet unidentified, with whom he discussed his plans and from whom he received a certain amount of encouragement and information over the Internet, using a website called Chechen233.

"There was some debate, which is revealed by comments on the computer, about what sort of person should be targeted in due course, whether public servants such as police officers or other public servants or ordinary citizens.

" In the end, the decision was made to target ordinary citizens in a restaurant."

Reilly is being held at the high-security Belmarsh jail, which houses other convicted terrorists. He will be sentenced next month.