A CONVICTED terrorist could be released from jail on licence later this year.

Saajid Badat, originally from Gloucester, studied at the College of Islamic Knowledge and Guidance, in Moss Street, Little Harwood.

He was jailed for 13 years in 2005 for conspiring to blow up a plane.

Badat arrived in Blackburn in December 2001 and rose through the ranks of local mosques.

But he became involved in terrorism after travelling and returned to the UK with equipment to blow up a plane.

A court heard he planned to target a transatlantic flight but pulled out.

Badat was arrested in November 2003 after high-profile raids in Blackburn.

Badat was linked to the ‘shoebomber’ Richard Reid who tried to blow up a transatlantic jet with explosives hidden in his footwear.

Today a top probation boss said he feared Badat may not be properly tracked when he was released later this year due to Government cuts.

Harry Fletcher, assistant general secretary of the National Association of Probation Officer, told a national newspaper: “My fear is as cuts go deeper we're going to be unable to give them the close attention that we have hitherto.”

But Lancashire Council of Mosques chair Salim Mulla said he believed there was no cause for alarm, even if Badat was freed on licence.

He said: “I am sure he has learnt his lesson and I think he will be able to return to mainstream society.

“He will realise he should not have been involved and he was out of order.

“I am sure he will move on once he is out and become a regular member of society.”

Asked if Badat’s return to Blackburn would worry him, Mr Mulla said: “I don’t think it would bother me or the community.

“I think the message has got through to him.”