I blame myself, says shoe-bomb suspect's father

The father of British shoe-bomb suspect Richard Reid is asking the public not to hate his son.

Robin Reid blames a broken home and the 18 years he spent behind bars for turning his son into a suspected terrorist.

Mr Reid, 51, makes his comments in an interview.

He said: "Look at the terrible childhood he had and the broken home he came from.

"Every time he needed me I was nowhere to be found. I was locked up.

"With that kind of childhood, what sort of defence could he put up against lunatic religious fanatics leading him astray?"

Mr Reid, from Streatham Hill, south London, was jailed for offences including burglary, car theft and driving while disqualified. He has been out of trouble for eight years

His son Richard Reid, 28, was tackled by passengers on an American Airlines flight from Paris to Miami three days before Christmas as he attempted to detonate explosives hidden in his basketball trainers.

A court hearing in Boston on December 28 heard the homemade bomb was capable of blowing a hole in the side of the jet.

Reid, formerly from Brixton, south London, was remanded in custody, facing up to 20 years in jail if convicted of intimidation or assault of a flight crew.