A FORMER Beal High School student, who had ambitions to be a model, is starting a life sentence for his role in one of the biggest terrorist bomb plots ever planned.

Anthony Garcia, 24, of Asthall Gardens in Barkingside, was one of five men who planned mass murder with a 600kg ammonium nitrate bomb, but were foiled by a massive police and security service operation.

Garcia, who was known as Rahman Benouis during his time at the school in Woodford Bridge Road, trained for the attack at an Al-Qaeda terror camp in a remote northern region of Pakistan before returning to Britain for his deadly mission.

Branded by Old Bailey Judge, Sir Michael Astill a cruel and ruthless misfit', Garcia was warned that he may never be released from prison.

The judge added: "You have betrayed the country that has given you every advantage in life. You may consider yourself a hero in the cause you espouse but you are considered by the vast majority of the population, of every faith, nothing but a cruel and ruthless misfit that should be removed from society for its own protection."

Garcia had travelled down to Sussex in November 2003 to buy the ammonium from an agricultural merchants, saying he needed it for an allotment.

However, the actual amount that he asked for would have been enough to fill the size of five football pitches. It was also the wrong time of year for it to be used on an allotment.

Garcia then drove it to a storage unit in Hanwell, west London, where staff alerted police after they became suspicious.

Police already had the group under surveillance and heard them discussing targets such as a gasworks, the Bluewater shopping centre and the Ministry of Sound nightclub.

When police believed the group's plans for an attack were nearing fruition they pounced.

Garcia's home in Barkingside was raided and he was one of eight men arrested nationwide in the early hours of March 30, 2004.

In court, Garcia's lawyer described him as a bit of an idiot' and not exactly the Brain of Britain', but police dealing with the case had no doubt as to the danger he posed.

Dept Asst Commissioner Peter Clarke, head of the Metropolitan Police counter terrorism command, said: "They were involved in an international conspiracy and the evidence showed that they would not balk at killing as many people as they could.

"We heard them praising the attacks in Madrid, saying that there were no such things as innocent victims. They had to be stopped."