KIM Reilly yesterday watched as her son was sentenced to life imprisonment at London's Old Bailey for his attempt to bomb an Exeter restaurant.

She has told how she will always stand by her son and how she had hoped that he would have been given the treatment he needed. Instead, Reilly is likely to be returned to the high-security Belmarsh prison for the foreseeable future.

Mrs Reilly has spoken of how her son was welcomed by the mosque in Plymouth when he turned to Islam.

"They gave him respect and that's where he felt comfortable," she said. "To be honest, I didn't understand it – I mean, I understand a bit more now than I did back then. But I didn't really understand about the Islamic faith and I didn't really want to. It just didn't appeal to me.

"Nicky could have got into any religion – Christianity, Buddhism, anything – and whatever person told him anything about it, he would take it on board that that was the truth. I only wish he'd got into Buddhism now.

"In my heart, I always believed that it (Islam) was another hobby, another fad and he'd go on to something else, move on from it. I never believed in a million years it would end like this.

"I never ever thought Nicky was in any danger or was being used as he has been. Because Nicky is so loyal to a friend and so naive and so vulnerable. You could sit with Nicky for five minutes and you would see what sort of person he is. The vulnerability and naivety stands out a mile.

"When he was discharged from hospital after the blast, he was put into a secret police station. All the staff – the appropriate adults – who were brought in all really liked him and were concerned for his welfare. They told him to be on his guard when he was in Belmarsh (prison where category A criminals and terrorists are held). They knew he would be very vulnerable in Belmarsh and they tried to tell him that what you see is not what you get in there.

"The solicitor, when asked to represent Nicky, imagined he was going to meet a cold, calculating person. He told me later he could not believe the kind, polite gentle person he met."

Echoing words uttered by senior police officers, his own barrister and many others who help those with autism, Mrs Reilly is utterly convinced her son was taken advantage of, programmed in extremist beliefs and pushed towards violent action.

"I believe someone took Nicky under their wing, planted the seed of all these extremist views, nurtured it, set him on the path and then slowly fell back into the background themselves. And then that's where the Internet took over.

"Someone has done this to him, for definite. Someone's loaded the gun for him to fire – loaded him up in his head – and that day, in that moment of madness, it's just ruined his whole life."

Having spent almost eight months in one of Britain's most secure prisons, Reilly has attempted to fit in. But Mrs Reilly – who regularly travels across the country to visit him – says his Asperger's makes it very difficult.

"He cannot understand anyone's body language – and it worries him. He phoned me recently and he told me he'd been talking to someone in the chapel. He was feeling anxious because he doesn't know if he's offended people, doesn't know if he's being rude or anything.

"There is a nurse there who really helps him. He's fond of her and she makes him feel a lot better and calms him down. He just gets so very anxious. He spilt some sugar the other day and he was really anxious about that.

"I know, it all sounds so crazy, but all these little things, it makes him ill."

Her son occasionally writes letters and cards to his mother, and even recently embarked upon a creative writing course which saw his poem published in a small book which Mrs Reilly keeps at home.

But she fears her son's vulnerability could mean he is targeted by others in prison. "I can't make sense of it all – he's gone from bringing me no trouble to the other end of the scale. He's been made a category A prisoner in Belmarsh with hardened criminals and other terrorists. He shouldn't be in there with them.

"Even though it's a terrorism offence, I don't believe Nicky is a terrorist. I mean, you can have theft and it can be a packet of sweets or £1 million, but the offence of theft is the same. The offence is terrorism, yes, but you can't compare him to these others who have been caught."

To Mrs Reilly, her son is still the boy who would find beauty in a walk through a park or along the Hoe or who would laugh out loud to comedy films.

She says: "Nicky has always been a very moral person. He's never been criminally minded, never brought me any trouble. He's never asked for much out of life, always been really grateful.

"It's the simple pleasures in life he's happy with – and that's what he misses now – just to go for a walk.

"He would walk around the Hoe, the Barbican and Mount Edgcumbe. Even those simple little things, other lads of that age wouldn't be doing. He would soak up the atmosphere and think things would be beautiful.

"He would come back from his walks and say this was beautiful and that was beautiful."

She laughs at the image but quickly emphasises how happy she was to see him happy. "He had an innocence about him. He was still like a child in some ways – although he's not stupid. That was one of the things that was not true in the papers about him – they said he had the mind of a 10-year-old.

"He might be naive and have an innocence about him in some things, but in other things, he's more educated than a lot of people.

"He did go to college – he did maths and English. Yes, he had learning difficulties, but he also had a job on a boat on the Barbican – making cups of tea and cleaning decks. At that time, his hobby was boats – he was in his element."

After the bombing, Mrs Reilly was unable to focus any further than the next day. She admits she was so overwhelmed by events, she even thought of ending her own life, finding every day a struggle. But as the months passed, she was able to focus on the future and accept painful truths.

"I don't think Nicky will ever come back to me. The Prison Service make sure they get the best support and I should imagine he'll be under surveillance the rest of his life. I suppose we'll all have to get together and work it out, but it won't be for a while yet. But wherever he is, I'll be there to support him."

She had hoped her son would be sent to a secure hospital. That now seems unlikely given the judge's comment during sentencing yesterday.

Mrs Reily says: "I know what Nicky's done is horrendous – but I could have my son in Afghanistan and I could be worried sick whether he's coming back or not. I can still see and touch Nicky and I can hear his voice.

"The police were telling me 'It could've been worse, it could've been worse' and I was 'How could it have been worse?'.

"I wasn't accepting what they were saying, but as time goes on, I can see it now, I can see things clearer."