Hasib Hussain: The boy who grew up to bomb No 30 bus

He was the tallest boy in his class. Hasib Hussain aged 10, in his final year at Ingram Road primary school in Holbeck, Leeds, was already showing signs of being a promising athlete and had ambitions to be a professional cricketer. But he was always an unassuming child.

Within seven years, however, Hussain was to become one of Britain's first home-grown suicide bombers at the age of 18.

One week ago yesterday, he told his mother he was going with friends for the night to London. He did and, once there, he boarded the No 30 bus and detonated the last of the four bombs that shook the capital.

Yesterday, the multicultural community of Holbeck was coming to terms with the fact that Hussain, known as a quiet boy always overshadowed by his gregarious older brother Imran, was a suicide bomber.

Hussain's upbringing was as normal as any other in the modest area of Leeds where he was born and raised.

Acquaintances said the youngster was once as passionate about football as he was about cricket. He was a member of the Holbeck Hornets team, which played on a patch of land yards from his home in Colenso Mount, belonged to a local cricket team and was often seen playing in his whites.

One of the last conversations he had with his parents was on Wednesday afternoon. He told his mother, Maniza, that he intended to travel down to London the next day with "a few of the lads".

He was casual about his plans, according to a resident, who said he had told Mrs Hussain: "I might go to London for the night and come back tomorrow morning."

His mother saw him asleep on the sofa a few hours later. She thought nothing of his plans.

"He goes to stay with friends two or three times a month," said the resident.

But, two days later, Mr Hussain had not returned. His parents became frantic with worry that he may have been caught up in the disaster. They tried to ring him but there was no answer. Eventually, at 10.20pm on Thursday, they went to the police to report his absence and hand in a picture of him.

At that stage, his father was so upset he could not talk and could barely sleep for worry, according to locals. Hussain's older brother Imran - known in the Holbeck community as "Immy" - was so concerned he got several friends together and drove to London to search for his brother, according to locals yesterday.

"They asked for him in police stations and hospitals," said the friend.

It took nearly a week to establish the truth. Far from being a victim of the bus bombing, that left 13 dead, he was found to have been the perpetrator.

His driving licence and cash cards were found in the wreckage of the bus in Tavistock Square. A man who said he was Hasib Hussain's uncle said yesterday his nephew was not "the type" to be a bomber.

"He was a nice lad. He was really nice," he said.

"He wasn't the type of guy to do it. "He wouldn't do it. I wish in my heart he was still alive."

Hussain's path to destruction

A series of setbacks in Hussain's young life may be behind a sudden change from a British Asian who dressed in western clothes to a devoutly religious teenager who wore Islamic garb and only stopped to say salaam to fellow Muslims.

School created the first setback. After attending Ingram Primary, he moved up to Matthew Murray secondary- now the Holbeck campus of South Leeds College - in September 1998 where his attendance was good and he was entered for a number of GCSEs.

But he was withdrawn by teachers from his GCSEs and left on 20 July, 2003 with a GNVQ in Business Studies.

He had always found an escape in football with Holbeck Hornets. But, about two years ago, the Hornets' pitch near the secondary school was closed down.

At about the same time, Hussain seemed to disappear into another world, according to associates.

"He was a good athlete and he was really into cricket and football. We would get together every weekend then they closed the pitch down. I never saw him much after that until six to eight weeks ago," said the friend.

It seems he thought he had found Islam. He grew a beard and began dressing in traditional Muslim clothes. When he was last spotted by the friend he had shaved off his beard.

Al Qaeda analysts have claimed that may be a sign of a radicalised Muslim's intention to become a terrorist.

The friend said: "I asked him why he had shaved off the beard. He said it was a long story and that he did not like one mosque saying one thing and another mosque saying that was the wrong way. When he heard so many arguments he thought 'forget it'. I will go my own way."

He seems he found no answers from the devoutly Islamic household where he grew up.

He was close to his brother Imran, who played in the Hornets team with him, according to locals. Imran, believed to be 24, works as an administrator in Leeds, and has a young daughter.

But, according to some, Hussain's parents despaired of him for a time when, in the words of another friend, he went "off the rails" as an adolescent and they made desperate attempts to instil discipline into him.

His father, Mahmood, was a devout Muslim in the true sense of the word. He would pick up an Urdu language newspaper every day from the Brown Lane newsagents in Holbeck. Mahmood, who was always seen in salwaar kameez, is in bad health and has been unable to hold down a regular job. He used to make leaflets for local mosques and calendars in the month of Ramadan.

Like the other three bombers, Hasib Hussain had strong links to Beeston, a mile away, where the Hussains travelled to shop at the Asian grocery stores . Said one shopowner:. "They came to mosque and their parents came to our store for spices."

Children from Beeston also travelled to Holbeck to Matthew Murray School, including one of the men believed to be the fourth suicide bomber. Though Hasib Hussain's parents did not know it, his fatal association with the three men who joined him last Thursday may have dated back to those formative years at Ingram Primary School.

- THE INDEPENDENT