27 Facts About Richard Reid

On 22 December 2001, Richard Reid boarded American Airlines Flight 63 between Paris and Miami, wearing shoes packed with explosives, which he unsuccessfully tried to detonate.

In 2002, Richard Reid pleaded guilty in US federal court to eight federal criminal counts of terrorism, based on his attempt to destroy a commercial aircraft in flight.

Richard Reid was sentenced to three life terms plus 110 years in prison without parole and was transferred to ADX Florence, a super maximum security prison in Colorado.

Richard Reid was born in Bromley, London, to Lesley Hughes, who was of native English descent, and Colvin Robin Richard Reid, a man of mixed race whose father was a Jamaican immigrant.

When Richard Reid was born, his father, a career criminal, was in prison for stealing a car.

Richard Reid attended Thomas Tallis School in Kidbrooke, leaving at age 16 and becoming a graffiti writer who was in and out of detention.

Richard Reid began vandalizing by writing graffiti under the name "Enrol" as part of a gang, and ultimately accumulated more than 10 convictions for crimes against persons and property.

Richard Reid served sentences at Feltham Young Offenders Institution and at Maidstone Prison.

Richard Reid later began attending the Finsbury Park Mosque in North London, headed at that time by the anti-American cleric Abu Hamza al-Masri, who was described as "the heart of the extremist Islamic culture" in Britain.

Richard Reid spent 1999 and 2000 in Pakistan and trained at a terrorist camp in Afghanistan, according to several informants.

Richard Reid lived and travelled in several places in Europe, communicating using an address in Peshawar, Pakistan, coincidentally where al Qaeda was formed in the late 1980s.

On 21 December 2001, Richard Reid attempted to board a flight from Paris to Miami, Florida.

Richard Reid's boarding was delayed because his dishevelled physical appearance aroused the suspicions of the airline passenger screeners.

Richard Reid returned to the airport the following day and boarded American Airlines Flight 63 from Paris to Miami, wearing shoes packed with plastic explosives in their hollowed-out bottoms.

Richard Reid found Reid, who was sitting alone near a window, attempting to light a match.

Richard Reid was immediately arrested at Logan International Airport after the incident.

The judge ordered Richard Reid held in jail without bail, pending trial due to the gravity of the crimes and the perceived high risk that he would try to flee.

The prosecutor obtained a grand jury indictment and on 16 January 2002, Richard Reid was charged with nine criminal counts related to terrorism, namely:.

Richard Reid pleaded guilty to the remaining eight counts on 4 October 2002.

Richard Reid was fined the maximum of $250,000 on each count, a total of $2 million.

When Richard Reid said he was a soldier of God under the command of Osama bin Laden, Young responded:.

Richard Reid reportedly demonstrated a lack of remorse and a combative nature during the hearing, and said that "the flag will come down on the day of judgment".

Richard Reid is serving his sentence at United States Penitentiary, Florence ADX, in Colorado, a supermax facility that holds the most dangerous prisoners in the federal system.

Richard Reid had received the bomb-making materials from someone in Afghanistan.

Department of Justice investigators and the federal prosecutors were skeptical of Moussaoui's claim that Richard Reid was involved in the plot.

Richard Reid filed a lawsuit challenging the restrictions placed on him in prison which controlled his communications with lawyers and other non-prisoners, limited his access to Muslim clerics, and prevented him from joining in group prayer at the prison.

In 2009, Richard Reid went on a hunger strike and was force-fed and hydrated for several weeks.