AN Islamic extremist who got a job as a British Airways computer expert conspired with a radical preacher to blow up a US-bound plane, a court heard yesterday.

In email exchanges with radical cleric Anwar al- Awlaki, Bangladeshi Rajib Karim, 31, shared details of his BA contacts and access from his home in Brunton Lane, Newcastle, said Jonathan Laidlaw, prosecuting.

Karim, who came to the UK in 2006, worked for BA in Newcastle and had access to the airliner’s offices there and at Heathrow.

Woolwich Crown Court heard Karim established a deep cover, joining a gym, playing football and never airing extreme views.

All the while, the prosecution allege, he was communicating with a terror cell and al-Awlaki, who is believed to be hiding in Yemen.

The defendant is accused of plotting to blow up a plane, sharing information to groups such as al Qaida, offering to help financial or disruptive attacks on BA and gaining a UK job to ‘exploit terrorist purposes’, which he denies.

The jury were told yesterday that Karim has already pleaded guilty to three terror charges.

Mr Laidlaw said the defendant’s offences were preparing himself or others for terrorist attacks between December 2006 and his arrest in February last year.

He has admitted being involved in the production of a terrorist group’s video, fundraising and volunteering for terror abroad.

The court heard Karim came to the UK with his wife, Zijarin Raja, and their toddler son because they believed the boy had cancer.

The child, now five, did not have cancer and has recovered from his sickness after being treated here.

Karim attended two mosques – Grange Park mosque and University of Newcastle mosque – and was not known to hold extreme views, the court heard.

He joined British Airways in September 2007 on its graduate training scheme.

Mr Laidlaw told the jury: ‘‘He sought work in this country of the sort which would be useful to him or a terrorist organisation in planning an attack.

“It will also become obvious to you that he has received a degree of terrorist training and, in particular, he has become highly skilled in conducting secret communications.”

The trial continues.