THE man who allegedly smuggled a bomb concealed in his trainers onto a plane was a "loner" at school.

Bromley-born Richard Reid, 28, who has suspected links with Osama bin Laden, was "insecure" and "in search of an identity" say those who knew him.

Reid was born in Farnborough Hospital and converted to Islam while in custody at Feltham Young Offenders Institute, in west London.

He attended Thomas Tallis Secondary School, in Kidbrooke, from 1984 to 1989.

Colin Yardley, headmaster at the time, said: "He was an unmemorable person.

"He didn't stick out at school for being especially bad or good."

But schoolmates remember a different side to the man who is awaiting trial in the United States for attempting a suicide-bombing of a plane packed with people.

Born to an English mother and Jamaican father, Reid was remembered as someone who was in search of an identity.

A former pupil said: "He desperately wanted to be black. He went off the rails and joined a hard gang of black youths."

"On one occasion, I was mugged on the train home from school by his gang. Richard was there with them. The ringleader was hard. You didn't mess with him. But Richard was as scared of him as I was.

"They took whatever money I had. When they walked away, Richard turned to me and mouthed Sorry'. He seemed easily led."

Another pupil said: "He was strange back then. He was a bit of a loner but he acted too tough.

"Towards the end of his time at school, he was very rarely there.

"But he seemed more like the kind of guy that would get mugged than a mugger."

Reid served time behind bars for a string of street crimes before converting to Islam. He attended Brixton Mosque, which condemns terrorism, but he was targeted by an extremist Muslim group which introduced him to a radical form of Islam.

A fellow worshipper at Brixton Mosque, Zacarias Moussaoui, has been charged with conspiracy in America over the September 11 attacks.

Chairman of Brixton Mosque Abdul Haqq Baker said: "There was no way he could have done this on his own. He was a testing ground. Had he succeeded, they would know this was a mechanism which worked.

"If the plane had exploded, there would have been very little trace of how it happened."

Reid, who is 6ft 4in, was overpowered by staff and passengers on an American Airlines flight from Paris to Miami. It is alleged he lit a fuse sticking out of one of his shoes.

The heels of his shoes were found to contain enough plastic explosives to blow a hole in the plane's floor.

Reid has appeared in court in Boston accused of assaulting air crew.

He faces 20 years in prison.