FORMER Blackburn student Sajid Badat has appeared at the Old Bailey charged with conspiring with shoe bomber Richard Reid to cause an explosion.

Badat, 24, of St James Street, Gloucester, was remanded in custody to April 12 for a plea and directions hearing.

Bearded Badat, who spent two years at the Islamic College of Knowledge and Guidance in Moss Street, stood with four prison officers in the dock and spoke only to answer his name.

He was charged with three offences -- conspiring with Reid and others unknown to cause an explosion between September 1, 2001, and November 28, 2003, and two offences of possessing explosives.

Reid, 29, from London, is serving a life sentence in America for trying to ignite explosives hidden in his shoes on board a transatlantic jet.